Email 8 - First Email from the Field! Plus, Final MTC photos, and first photos from Spain!

Last Day of Classes!

 

 

Packing Up!

 

 

Last temple walk! (the other Hnas are our trainees from our zone in the MTC) I miss them all so much!

Airport!

 

(On the phone with the Family!)

 

 

 

Final goodbyes

 

President Jackson

 

Trying to stay awake in the mission home!

 

The Madrid Temple

 

 

The piso we spent the night in on our first night here

 

The view of the temple from the window in the morning!

Hna Stepp/ Smith dropping us off at the train station

 

 The rather uncomfortable but very fun train ride to Gijon!

 

When we first got to Gijon!

 

District Leaders

 

Spain's delicious :)

Hna Diezi found some Swiss money when we were at Dominos after our zone meeting this week

The missionaries plus a couple members in the capilla (chapel)

Where we contacted yesterday

Where we study in the piso and where we contact every day :)

 

 

 

Hola familia!!
 

Ok, I´ve got to figure out this Spanish keyboard, haha, if there´s a random weird symbol or something in here, just ignore it :)
 

I´M IN SPAIN!!! Haha, what the heck?! I´m loving Gijon (hee-hohn, think of like, the sound a donkey makes kinda, but there´s a french sorta throat noise on the "j")
 

Here's the address of my first piso:

Calle Jove y Hevia 19, 1-D

33211 Gijon, Asturias
 

This week has been crazy! I haven't even really gotten to meet our investigators yet (of which there are few. We need to do SO much finding here!).
 

So here's how the week went:
 

Hna Adair and I arrived safely at the Madrid airport on Tuesday morning, where we were swept up by the Jacksons and taken to the mission home. The two of us and three other Elders were the only ones to arrive straight from Provo (I saw Lexi Crandall!) and it was super hard to stay awake during those first meetings, haha, but I LOVE President and Sister Jackson. They are so amazing, and after I got my assignment to travel to Gijon with Hna Fuller, President pulled me aside and told me how awesome Hna Diezi is and how his daughter, Megan, had gone out to teach with her when she came to visit. Super cool.
 

Haha, and yeah, they did lose my luggage on a bus driving around Madrid, so Hna Fuller and I decided to stay the night in Madrid in a teeny little piso where 6 Hnas live to leave the next day for Gijon. Hna Stepp and Hna Smith took us on splits and I got to contact for my first time in the middle of Madrid! That was super cool, and way hard, because I realized that I don't actually know Spanish, haha. But it'll come!
 

Anyway, long story short, when we finally got to the train the next day, the workers freaked out when they saw all of our luggage (apparently we can't take that much stuff on a train) and although we were able to convince them to let us take one suitcase each, we had to leave the rest of our stuff in Madrid- but I got it two days later at a Zone meeting- no worries.
 

And then Hna Fuller (from Murray, Utah- good friends with Erica Azad!) and I rode for 5 hours to Gijon, and the scenary was so gorgeous. We met up with Hna Diezi and Hna King (Hna King was trained by Hna Diezi, and now she's turning right around and training Hna Fuller. Picture Aunt Wendy Ellsworth as a missionary, and you've got Hna King, haha. She talks just like you, Aunt Wen! That's kinda fun.) Hna King and Hna Fuller live in a piso a few miles away from ours. It's just our two companionships and the District Leader companionship in our district, and we see each other every day.

 

Gijon really is gorgeous, but we haven't gone to see the coast or anything quite yet (we're actually going to head that way right after emails). I'm learning a lot about the culture here, and I got to have my first real Spanish meal last night! A sweet, very talkative, older woman named Maria in our rama (branch) invited the Hnas over to have that awesome potato-egg-tortilla thing and then she fed us a little bit of just about every random thing in her kitchen so that Hna Fuller and I could taste Spanish food. There were some REALLY good things, and then some not-so-good things, haha.

 

My trainer is so wonderful :) Hermana Diezi is from SWITZERLAND! And that's really awesome for a few reasons. One, of course, because Dad served his mission there! Another reason is because the older folks here ask right away when we start a contact if we're American, and she's able to say that she isn't, and hasn't ever been there, and that's actuall y way helpful, haha. (I just kind of stay quiet for that part...) Also, she learned English from her Mom who's from England, so she has a little bit of a British accent which is way fun, and it comes out super strong when she reads.

 

We're getting along really well, and she's been super patient with me as I'm working on the language. We try to just speak spanish when we're outside of the piso (which can sometimes be a problem because most of the time, we're outside when she's explaining situations with members and investigators and all that good stuff, so I was starting to get way confused before we decided we should probably just talk about that stuff in English, haha). One of the first things she told me was that she didn't like stereotypes, but as far as Swiss people loving chocolate- she very much supports that stereotype :)

 

The members here are super awesome, too. There aren't very many here, and there isn't a single one that has grown up in the church, but there are some very, very strong people here, and most of them try really hard to help me with my spanish :)

 

Since coming here, I'm mostly learning about patience, and how to really just focus on the Lord. I'd be lying to say that it was all super easy- it's definitely not- but it's still going so well. I have so, so much to learn, but when I'm feeling the Spirit, I'm able to teach a little and bear testimony.

We had a neat experience on the my first day in Gijon, when we'd been out contacting for awhile and it was getting really hard. We stopped by a member's piso (no one here has a house, everyone's in little pisos) and I felt the Spirit as soon as we walked in the door. We sat down with Marisa and her two daughters and talked, had super thick and wonderful hot chocolate, and had a little lesson. I could immediately tell that I was speaking and understanding better because the spirit was present, and I had a hard time leaving when we had to, haha. But I know that as I get better at this, as I get more sensitive to the spirit and improve my Spanish, I'll be able to experience that more.

 

I've been praying for help for when we're out contacting, to be able to see people's potential and feel love for them. It's made it easier to approach people, but at the same time, it's so hard to know that someone needs the gospel (because everyone does) and have them turn you down. But I know that this is the work of Jesus Christ, and that I've been set apart as His representative, so we're going to keep trying! We have a goal to find a family to teach this transfer. Prayers are appreciated!

 

I'm running out of time because it's taking me longer to type on this keyboard, haha, but I'll send some letters home later today.

I love you all so, so much, and I can feel your love and support all the way over here in Gijon :)

 

I hope you're all doing well (The SLC trip sounded so, so cool!!), and I pray for you all every day!

 

Love you, love you, love you!

 

-Hermana Grover

 

Stupendous, I have a little extra time.

Here are a couple more things:
 

-our District leaders don't speak English! That's actually been way helpful because it forces me to speak Spanish even when we're all together as missionaries.
-Brad and Kate- write to me!

-I'm going to get so fat here, haha. We eat SO much bread and chocolate. It's wonderful :) ...but we're going to finally pick up some fruits and veggies today, thank goodness.

-Ok, that pic with us and some members was actually from a rather spontaneous baptism that happened yesterday morning. It's kinda hard to explain the whole story, but this guy had been investigating for over ten years! Crazy! He was finally baptized yesterday. Good stuff. I'll explain more in a letter.

 

Alright, now I gotta go. Love you! :)

 

PS - Diezi is pronounced Dee-eh-zee :) and I actually have an hour and a half for emails here! Woohoo! but I have to use some of that to email President, obviously. Ok, that's for real the last thing. Love you!