October 5, 2015 Letter

Hey!


We got to spend Saturday and Sunday watching Conference in the capilla that we have in Gijon. We also got to watch it in English which was AWESOME. It's sooo much better listening to their actual voices. There were a few members and our investigator F. that came and watched it with us in English and they all loved it. It was like a spiritual feast. We didn't get to watch Sunday afternoon session but we're hoping we'll have the chance to download it and watch it sometimes this week. It's always a bummer to miss Bednar. But hey, the new apostles seem great! I loved their testimonies. Something that really stuck out to me was how humble they all are. They're Apostles of the Lord and they still are overcome, almost, by their feelings of inadequacy and "painful self-examination". But I loved what Elder Stevenson said about focus on what you can do. And those men can testify with the Spirit. 

Something that I've really seen out here is it doesn't matter who we are, where we've been, what our strengths or weaknesses are, our interests, where we are from, what language we speak- it's not important. What sets us apart is our testimonies of Jesus Christ.

Anyway, my favorite talks (of those that I listened too so far): I loved Elder Hales. Such good advice for me. I felt like he was talking right too me. I love Elder Hollands, as well, because that man is BRILLIANT. His control of the English language makes me want to drool. He also just about scared me out of my desire to be a mom- I WILL NEVER BE READY FOR THAT. It just made me grateful for you, momma. :) I loved Elder Nielsons talk about womanhood. It inculcated a desire in me to be a better, more virtuous, more valiant woman because I know that I was born into this time of the Church for a reason. And loved President Monson, but the fact that he just about fainted on the stand was not cool. I was so scared for him! Ok honestly I loved all of them. Such a spiritually bomb conference. I felt close to Heaven and that confirmed to me that these men truly are in direct and frequent
communication with our Father in Heaven- He's closer than we think. 

We had investigators there and menos actives and they all loved it. One is a Catholic friar and we didn't think he had come until the next day, when one of the members told us he had been sitting next to him and that he drove him home. Our investigator LOVED it. He told us that he wished he would have brought paper and a pen to write down all the inspiration that he had received. Like... Wow.  He was inspired and that was a testimony to me. Ahh. Conference is the super bowl of missionary work. I loved it.

The rest of the week was great. We did trio intercambios with the Hemanas of Leon while waiting for the new missionary to come. It's a little bit weird contacting in a trio but we found some bomb people. One guy was from Zurich, Switzerland and he spoke English and was just so chill. I hope they're able to get somewhere with him. He was chill. We also had a cool experience with this old man we found in a bench in a park that we were contacting in. We approached him and he said- no, no, no, I'm not interested. I don't want anything, thanks anyways. But then we persisted and persisted and we were finally able to share something with him, get to his core beliefs and write down his information. The reason it was cool for me was because this guy looked homeless, smelled really bad, and just didn't seem that interested at all. But as we started to talk to him, I said a prayer, asking to help us have charity and see him through Gods eyes. And it worked. I got a brief glimpse of how much the Lord loves him. He loves all of His children so much. I don't know- just confirming something that I already knew.