June 15th, 2015 Letter

This is my very first time writing a full email on my iPad! We got them this week at a zone conference and we were all pretty excited. It's pretty hard to type, actually, so forgive me if there are words spelled wrong or whatever. I'll try my best. 

The zone conference was good! We had to be on a bus for 2 hours in order to get there on time. It was in Leon, which is a long ways away but still in our zone. So different from being in Madrid!! We were on the Metro for 30 minutes max in Madrid to get to any meeting that we had, and it's so different here. So anyways. I love the north. It's like, a different mission. So many different things!! It's harder, but so much more beautiful. The people are, generally, a lot stronger in their testimonies, even though there are a lot less of them. I've just come to appreciate the little things a lot more and I'm grateful to be doing this work, especially in the place that I'm doing it. I've also grown a lot in my love for the Spanish people and the Spanish culture. May sound weird, but the truth is is that up until this point, the work we've done has mainly been with South American people. There really aren't that many here, so it's really helped me grow to love and appreciate the Spanish culture.

Gijon

Gijon

Right now I am with the senior couple that serves here in Gijon , the Browns. We ate breakfast at their house and now they're driving us around in their car in the really pretty, hilly parts of Gijon. We're basically just on a little drive. It's cute. It's like having grandparents here and it's really cool. They're awesome. It's been a very LONG week. I'm so tired. Actually, I feel better today, but yesterday we were both just dragging. We had 2 trips to Leon this week, which is 4 hours total each time on a bus. One was for the zone meeting thing (1 year on the mission and I still get confused about the difference between zone conferences and zone meetings) and the other was for district conference (like stake conference but for branches) yesterday. It was really good. Our sweet mission president, President Jackson, spoke. He actually came around and gave us our final interviews this week, as well. They're leaving in about 2 weeks, so Sunday was my last time seeing them for a long time (not until I get home). He spoke about what to do to prepare for a mission, and it almost made me cry. I just had a little moment when I realized that for my whole life, I was basically preparing for and talking about and living for the fact that someday, I could be a missionary!! And now I'm actually doing it and loving it and just taking it all in. It goes by so fast, but I'm so grateful for this experience. It means the world to me, no matter how hard it can be sometimes.

Leon

This week was hard, work wise, but we're ok. It's just super, super hard to find here. You can be on the street for hours and literally not get any references. But we have been blessed to find a few really cool people. We haven't seen the Muslim lady yet, but we have an appointment with her the next Sunday. The umbrella guy we are meeting with on Tuesday. Tomorrow. And we found this new guy named G. through a menos active named M. He's from Cuba and he just moved into a room in the piso where she lives.  We also had a little bit of a miracle this week with this girl named D. We had no idea that she even existed, but she just showed up with a member that we were helping with visits and told us that she had been baptized when she was 13 in Alicante. She is 19 and just super cool, and it's a miracle because we've been really really praying to have JAS here because we have literally NOBODY. She is the only JAS we have as of right now and she's just reactivating herself. She is really so cool and just wants to change her life, because she fell away for a long time. But she is awesome and willing to help us with visits, which is another miracle because we've kind of had a hard time with that (members in lessons). And I just feel like she's really become our friend. I really do like her a lot and were just grateful for her.

Well, I've written a lot! Haha sorry. It's been a good week and we're both doing really great. We're just gonna keep working and praying for little miracles. Pray for the work here!! We need as much help as we can get. I love you all so much. This week I just want to remind you all of your covenants that you've made with the Lord. Covenants are the building blocks that keep our lives centered on Christ, and when we do all that we can to keep them and make them a part of our daily lives and actions, we can feel God so much more in our presence. He will always keep his end of the covenant, we just need to always remember to do all that we can to keep our end. I love you!! Have a stellar week, love ya all.

Compys!

Selfie w/ art