¨No growth in a comfort zone¨

October 14, 2013

So once upon a time two sister missionaries were sitting in their piso calmly deciding to make some lunch after planning out their week. They had new goals and new motivation and everything was going great! Then the completely unexpected happened when PRESIDENT DEERE CALLED them. Why was this such a big deal?? Because it is TRANSFER weekend and they were NOT expecting a call. Anyway, Hermana Roan is going to Granada! And my new companion is Hermana Thompson who is currently serving in Benidorm and I have never actually met her. So...it will be interesting that's for sure. The big switch happens Wednesday. I'm going to miss Hermana Roan SO much because we're best friends, but it's okay because I know this is what is supposed to happen. It feels right. She was sad though because she hasn't had a lot of time to say goodbye to anybody on such short notice. So stay tuned for my first week with Hermana Thompson! I am kind of worried though because even though she is more experienced than me (she has about 6 months in the mission) she doesn't know Málaga and I am the one who is supposed to know it. And everyone in the ward. And the investigators. But like my title says, ¨There's no comfort in a growth zone and no growth in a comfort zone!¨ So at least I knew what to fast for last Sunday!

On the other hand, Michael got BAPTIZED on Saturday!!!!!! It was SO awesome!!!! He is amazing, he really is. Every time I talk to him he just impresses me more and more with his simple faith and trust in the Lord. Unfortunately at the baptism we had to tell him Hermana Roan was being transferred and he wasn't happy about it. Hna Roan has been the only missionary teaching him the entire time. So it was kind of a miracle that his baptism was that day because our ward mission leader was pushing for next weekend but we really felt like it should be the 12th and now we know why! But Michael is amazing because he took it so well. We met with him last night and he just kept saying that he would miss her but he knows that we're here on missions and that she is doing the work of the Lord and he knew that he would see her again someday. I just was sooo glad he understood because someone so new to the Church who is not very familiar with the way missions work could take it personally when missionaries leave, not understanding, but he is great. I am so proud of him. he also gives prayers that make both me and Hna Roan tear up. I SOOOO wish all of you could meet him. 

I also got to go to Fuengirola again this week for my residency card. I am officially a resident of Spain!! But we got to spend the night at the mission home and then spend the next morning just talking to President and Hna Deere and just ask questions and discuss any concerns and seriously, it was really comforting and helpful and I know I have already obsessed over them before, but they are just the most amazing people in the world. So kind, never judging, only helpful and loving. 

Hopefully I get to write more in an hour or so but we really have to catch a bus right now so I will just send this now in case we dont get to write more later!

Hermana Andrew

What´s Your Favorite Castle?

September 30, 2013

 

My Dear Family and Friends,

Wow, it´s Pday again! This week was insanely fast. There are only 2 weeks left of this transfer! What??? ¡Qué loco!

Anyway, last Pday Hma Roan and the Hermanas from Málaga 1 went to the castle in Málaga! I have never been to a castle before, so it is my favorite. It might always be my favorite. If you don´t have a favorite, just pick this one. Google it! The name is Alcazaba I think. But the few from the top was incredible. Like, I basically saw from a really high point the exact view I had seen of Málaga when I first googled it, but this was real life! However, the pictures are so perfect that I´m pretty sure no one will actually believe I was there :p The ocean view was INCREDIBLE and when I felt that heavenly breeze up there I almost had to write a letter to my parents to tell them sorry but I probably wouldn´t come home! But really, if you ever venture to Málaga, see the castle. it´s also the perfect place to take engagement pics, so Kelly and Aaron, you both should come! The castle is still standing but it´s from the 11th century so it´s more like ruins, but it´s beautiful. We also saw the Málaga Cathedral. And...wow. Just wow. I wish I could somehow make you understand the magnificence of it but even a picture won´t ever do it justice. the ceilings were crazy high and the stained glass and we were just awestruck. But overall, super fun because we were really in the heart of Málaga tourist area which i had not seen before because we live where everyone else lives.

Also, my heart was stolen. Who stole it? Six perritos in a basket. That´s who stole it. We were just walking to find our next address and we ended up behind an older gentleman carrying this basket that had 6 little Yorkshire puppies in it. We just about died. We stopped the man and he told us they were 5 weeks old. I personally thought that we should buy the whole basket from him and then sit on a bench and have people approach us and we would let anyone who wanted to play with the puppies as long as they agreed to listen to our message. I thought it would be taking missionary work to a whole new level but something inside me said President Deere might not think that way :p haha. But en realidad, I hope they take care of my heart. I have never wanted a puppy so badly before!

Tuesday we had exchanges with Hermana León. She is our Sister Training Leader serving in Dos Hermanas and she came down for the day. She is going home in 2 weeks so she is extremely experienced! We learned a lot that´s going to help us! And she´s a native so it was easier to talk to everyone! Tuesday night was pretty crazy though...Elder Gómez had given us this reference of someone they talked to in the train station and so we set an appointment. but it was later at night so it was dark and in this really creepy part of town that we had never been to before and so we got really lost but finally found it, but it wasn´t a real piso, it was like a business, but it looked super creepy because it was dark and empty and the windows were barred (not weird for a business here but creepy because he lived there) but no one was answering so we were just going to leave but then someone yells ¨Girls!¨ and at this point I´m ready to run but we checked and it was indeed Asel, the man we were going to see. So we explained why we were late and he says we should still come in (there were 3 of us so Hma León said it was okay) so he has this huge set of keys and starts to unlock his huge door and the bars behind it and then we go inside and then he locks the door. So I´m like, ¨Great, we´re going to die...¨ and then he asks if we want to watch TV, doesn´t wait for an answer before turning it on, and then goes into the kitchen to get something for us to eat. So we´re just sitting there, a little freaked out, and wondering what on earth we got ourselves into. And the TV is in Arabic and he had told us he was from Morocco. The Spirit wasn´t telling us that we needed to leave though, but the Spirit wasn´t actually there either. It was a REALLY eerie feeling. Like, we just felt...empty. So he comes back and starts talking about the news that they were showing on TV about how thousands of people are dying in Egypt (is something giong on in Egypt right now? Can anyone confirm that?) and he just talks forever about all the issues there and finally we say we´re here to share a message and so he turns off the TV and all we asked was what the Elders had explained about our church and then he went off again for another 10 minutes about the Quaran and I honestly can´t really remember what he said but I guess he reads the Bible too, and when we tried to explain the Book of Mormon, all he cared about was what original language it was in and what God´s name was (because he says it should only be Alah in scritpures). So after we finally got out of there alive (I wish I had a picture, it was CREEPY) we just started laughing. Then we called Elder Gómez and complained that he didn´t tell us the reference was Muslim (because he totally knew!) so that´s definitely my most interesting story of the week.

However, thursday was zone conference and it was really great! We got to hang out with the Deere´s all day and be inspired by them and see lots of other missionaries from lots of zones in the area! I have yet to see Victor because he´s in Cadiz which is the Sevilla zone, but I got to see some MTC friends like Hma Lyons and Elder Landinez! I also got to meet a lot of missionaries that I´d never met before. Pictures of the conference are on the blog!

I have a new favorite family in the ward! It´s a Romanian family and the parents only aren´t baptized because they are waiting for papers to help them get married but the kids are all members and even though they are mostly primary age, they are SO strong and they love to read the BoM together and they highlight things and study it and they LOVE to participate in the lessons and the 8 and 9 year old girls both say all the time how much they want to serve missions! We have been over there because they have family moving to Málaga from Romania and they aren´t members so we are starting to teach them. However, they don´t even have a place to live right now, so it´s hard to teach them when they don´t have that basic need filled, so we´ll see how that goes. But Alexandra and Paco are doing SO well! We had a good lesson with them and they came to the baptism on Saturday! The people getting baptized were mostly Ward 1 but also one girl for Ward 2. Paco enjoyed the baptism and we could tell that there and also at Church yesterday he was really focused even though the daughter Aroa sometimes was a distraction. We are SO excited about them!

Friday was Hermana Roan´s birthday! She turned 20. Michael saw us that day and we went to McDonalds and then Maria Angeles (the awesome primary president) made her a cake and lots of food and decorated her piso so it was a party! Also, Michael is teaching us Izbu phrases! Izbu is his Nigerian language and it´s pretty awesome! So not only am I going to come back fluent in Spanish, but I´ll know some African language too! haha. Michael´s baptism is now the 12th of October (it could be sooner but General Conference kind of messes things up in terms of there not being Sacrament Meeting that day). We really really hope this date works out. We hope to commit Paco to baptism this week too.

So, General Conference! I cannot tell you how excited I am!!!!!!! I hope you are all excited too! Everyone should watch it! And I really don´t know how it will work here. We´ve asked like everyone we know and nobody seems to know...so we´ll see. I REALLY hope we can watch it in English and since Michael speaks English I think we have a good excuse. But either way, i´m really excited! We did not see the RS general broadcast. The RS president here was sure that it was at 6pm last Sat night but I was pretty sure that she forgot to account for the time difference in Utah. Either way, there was the baptisms that nght so I don´t think anyone tried to see it. But i am particularly excited about this general conference because it will be the year mark of the missionary age change!!! I keep trying to remember how I felt last year at this time. A year ago I had NO idea that in a year I´d be in Spain. Like, that kind of blows my mind. But in light of the anniversary, I want to share this quote from President Hinckley (he said this years before the change even happened!): ¨Many young women are serving missions. Many are preparing to serve, not because they aren´t married or have nothing else to do, but because they have a desire to serve and therefore are being called to the work. The reason so many are going is because in the next generation, Heavenly Father will be sending His Priesthood Army to the earth. And He wants to send them to mothers who have been properly trained and taught in the gospel. And what better training can a young woman have than that of serving a mission?¨ I just get chills every time i read that. The Lord changed the missionary age because He wants His mothers trained because our children will really need that strength. I am ridiculously excited to see the growth in the Church over the next few years and am crazy happy to call myself a part of it! All you young women out there, prepare to serve! Whether you decide to go or not is up to you, but you should prepare either way because the Lord has an amazing plan for you and your life! He has so much faith in us and we WILL do amazing things.

Missionary work tip: If you ahve a friend to give a BoM to, write your testimony in it first! That´s really powerful for them to read that first.

Thanks for all the letters! I got letters from Dad, Grandpa, the Walkers and Aaron! Mail is really needed out here! We need support!

Everything else I had to say will have to wait for next week. Espero que tengan una buena semana :)

Hasta ver,

Hermana Andrew