January 26th, 2015 Letter

So this week has been amazing. Seeing the way that the Lord answers prayers and helps us to grow inspires me everytime. First off, I LOVE HERMANA JUDD. She has seriously become my best friend and we have enjoyed our time together so much. We always always always turn off the light on time to go to bed, but no matter how tired we are, somehow we ALWAYS end up just laughing hysterically for at least 20 minutes before we finally fall asleep. She is fluent in French and has learned Spanish incredibly quick- we speak basically the same level. She´s so great with the people and she is just so down to be obedient and work hard and aprovechar la misión (ok I cannot remember the English word for aprovechar, so you´re gonna have to go look that one up). It´s just a breath of fresh air to have a best friend as a companion again. She´s just so happy which makes me SO happy and it just goes well. It´s really helped this week, especially, because guess what, there´s like zero investigators here. We´ve been contacting a whole lot. I´ve had to really step it up in that area- we both have- because in the past, we´ve both really let our companions basically take the lead in that area. So we´ve both stepped up and it´s brought results! I´ve actually grown to love love LOVE contacting. Remember how much I used to hate it? Well. Yeah. It´s changed. It´s a challenge and I love the challenge. It´s hard not having Hermana Irigoyen there at times, because she was just a really good teacher on the street, but it´s forced me to become better at it myself and that´s been a really huge blessing. This week we talked to a lot of people on the street. A few came to English classes and one guy came to church, so that was pretty sweet.

The most memorable contact was this Atheist Spanish guy last night. He didn´t believe in God and really wasn´t interested at all, but he stopped so we talked to him. He tried to pull the whole, "Well, God makes you happy right? That just proves that God is all in your head" sort of deal, and I don´t know why, but something snapped inside of me. I just was tired of people not knowing about Heavenly Father and not realizing that He´s real and that He loves us and it´s just hard to hear people hide behind their own opinions and excuses and fears because they can´t believe what they can´t physically see. So, I just.. snapped. I don´t know how to describe it, but I just started testifying to him hardcore and crying mientras. And then I recited the first vision, and we were standing on the side of a busy road on a Sunday night, but as I told that experience, the cars stopped passing and it was SILENT. He listened. For a brief second, something touched him. But then that moment was over and he just refused to have any of it. He ended up grabbing my shoulders pretty aggressively and was sort of pushing me around, so I just shook him off, said "Que tenga un buen noche" without really meaning it, and we walked away. I was SHAKING. It was a really powerful moment for all of us, and it built my testimony SO MUCH because it was one of those times when you just know without any shadow of a doubt that what you are saying is true and that God knows it, too. A really cool moment.

There are some really cool people here in Barrio 8! The members are super amazing and a lot of them recognize me already as "la Hermana que juega futbol!" so that´s pretty cool. They do a thing here when, on the first Sunday of our time here, the new missionaries get up and introduce themselves and bear their testimonies. It went well, and afterwards a lot of people came up and complimented me on my Spanish, which felt super good. The better I get, the more I realize how much I have to learn. But, as I´m leading the companionship and training my sweet daughter (doesn´t actually feel like I´m training but, whatever, it´s fine), Heavenly Father has blessed me so so much in this area of the mission. Well, in all areas, but with the language very notably so. I understand everything and I can hold my own with anybody. It´s been an incredible blessing. I love Spanish so much. Still gotta get better. That´s why we study.

I miss B2 tremendously. It´s weird not to be homesick for Utah but to be homesick for a different part of Spain. I miss my district there, I miss the members, I miss the bishop and my investigators and just everybody. Didn´t realize how much I loved them until I left. I kept catching myself talking about "my piso" or "my district" or "my investigator so and so", without realizing that they´re not mine anymore! Super hard but, again, I love B8 and I´m so happy to be here.

 I just am so happy here. I love this experience so much. Highest highs and lowest lows but through it all you know that- as long as you´re being diligent, obedient, and working hard- you´re doing the right things. I feel like a different person than I did 7 months or even 1 week ago. I change everyday, and I know that it´s an incredible blessing from the Lord. He´s my biggest strength, my best friend, my confidant and just the one that gets me through it. I¨m super grateful to be doing His work and I pray everyday to do it well.