Email 11 - "That´s missionary life. And I´m loving it :D "

 

"This place is so pretty :)"

 

 

 

 

"Last P-day, in the Centre :)"

 

"We got frozen yogurt that actually tastes like real yogurt, haha. Not really a fan..."

 

 

"Finally got around to getting to the beach!"

 

"Kate, check out what I found ;)"

 

 

"Everyone says we look like Testigos... we´re kinda realizing that it´s unfortunately true, haha."

 

 

 

 

"Here´s some lovely artwork of a member in her piso (she wouldn´t let me get a pic with her in it)..."

 

 

 

"...and then the lovely artwork in our piso :D"

 

 

 

"Another fun one with the "chappa" (nametag)"



"Teaching the members how to play "ninja" after a branch FHE :)"

 



 

 "I´m feeling the love from home!!"

Holy cow, sounds like a lot´s happening back home!! Thanks so much for the updates. I´ll read them more in depth later today :) I loved the pictures from Mike and Dad!

That recording device idea sounds great!! I´ll look forward to sending you guys some recordings of life in Spain :)
 

Also... HOLY LOVE FROM HOME! Oh my goodness! I got a letter from Mom right after doing emails last week, and three more on Thursday. I also got a glorious package on Tuesday!! That was stupendous. The love is very much needed and appreciated :D  (Those church magazines are perfect, by the way. I´ve used them everyday since getting them. I also just found out that we won´t have a chance to watch the last session of General Conference, or the Relief Society broadcast. If you could maybe send me the Ensign with those when that comes out, that would be so great!!)
 

I feel bad because I didn´t have time to write letters last week, and I probably won´t be able to write any today because we´re starting intercambios (exchanges) tonight and we need to clean up and pack up for that. I´m going to be with Hermana King until Wednesday morning :) I´ll write soon, though!
 

We had some very typical missionary experiences this week. We were supposed to spend an entire day contacting in La Cambocha- because we reeeally need to find new investigators, but we quickly realized that we weren´t going to get very far in that area, haha, so we just stayed for an hour. Here´s how that hour went:

 

-We had a big dog "attack" us (he was actually pretty friendly and cute... just a little strong and big, haha)

-We had people pretend they weren´t home

-We had a lady get sassy with us because she thought we were testigos (Jehovah´s Witnesses)

-We had some doors slammed

-We were laughed at by some teenagers

-We felt the Spirit nudge us over to a building, then to a door, where we ended up giving a lesson to a SUPER sweet Colombian woman and her two kids. We´re going back this week to teach her :)
 

Yep. That´s missionary life. And I´m loving it :D 
 

As for our investigators, we lost touch with T***. It was AWFUL. We couldn´t stop thinking about what might be going on and why he wasn´t answering the phone or our texts, or why he was "never home." We also had gotten a call from M*****, the Catholic woman that we found in the streets and had an awesome first lesson with, and she told us that she was moving to Olviedo, so we couldn´t teach her anymore (we passed on the reference, though). And that SAME DAY, we were giving E******** one last shot, and she "wasn´t home." We contacted her neighbor, and as we were standing there, she and her boyfriend ran out the door and down the stairs. It was tough. 

 

I tried calling T*** one more time at the end of the day, and he picked up the phone!! He told me that he´d been lost, and he wanted to meet with us again as soon as he could. I´m super stoked. He´s totally going to get baptized (as long as he comes to church... but we´ve got a pretty good plan for that, so I´m feeling good).
 

M****´s still doing well. It´s tricky to meet with her because she works all day and has classes until late at night, but it was her birthday on Saturday, so we stopped by with some chocolate and a copy of the Relief Society theme because she´d liked it so much when we did a chapel tour with her. I´m excited to keep teaching her. She´s a very sweet girl, and she already made a connection with Katy, one of the Young Single Adults that helps us out like none other.
 

It was definitely a week of miracles amid tough situations. I´m pretty sure I can expect that for the rest of the mission, haha. As long as we´re doing what we´re supposed to, little things work out perfectly. People still have their agency, and it´s really hard sometimes to accept that, but Heavenly Father will always give us enough (sometimes just barely enough, haha) to keep us going. 

 

Oh, but here´s a super awesome miracle: The branch is slowly but surely "Catching the Wave," as Elder Nelson puts it. We´ve been struggling with members not knowing what their callings mean, members not having any idea what the missionaries do or that they can help/ they have a responsibility to help with it, one of the leaders discouraging members from helping the missionaries because he thought it wasn´t their place, members being judgemental of one another, people showing up really late to meetings/ not showing up at all, and other little things. Hermana Diezi and I were thinking about it A LOT. Especially as we were watching the missionary training videos that we watch every few days and as I was thinking about our ward back home.

 

´Turns out the other Hermanas were thinking the exact same thing. So we had a meeting with the Branch Presidency, the Ward Mission Leader, and the 6 of us missionaries. It was AWESOME. Everyone had been feeling that something was missing, and now we´re working on how to get things going. I was so impressed and relieved to have everyone feeling so supportive and ready to work after that meeting. We´re going to stick to our Ward Mission Leader, Edgar, and the Branch Presidency as we try to get the branch pumped about the Work of Salvation here in Gijón. 

I´ll keep you all posted on how that goes :D
 

I´m starting to feel a bit more comfortable with my Spanish. In that meeting with the ward leaders the other day, I was able to keep up with everyone and put my two cents in every now and then, without anyone asking for a translation from my comp, haha. Like Mike said it was for him, it definitely depends on how in the zone I am and how in tune I am with the spirit. 
 

I also can´t believe how much I´m changing/ how much more I need to change. I think I mentioned this in my last email, but good gravy there´s quite a bit. The love of Heavenly Father is so real, and so strong, though, that even when my weaknesses are being exposed and I´m having a tough time, I know I can turn to Him and look for what to do. And that thing to do is ALWAYS turning outward and not focusing on myself. I´m trying to do the work of the Savior, and the only way for it to be acceptable to Him is if I do it in His way. I love the people here, and I can feel it getting easier when I´m focusing on my purpose, the Savior, and everyone except myself. I´m so grateful for a patient trainer and a patient Heavenly Father as I´m trying to learn how to do it!
 

Of course I miss you all, and I love you all so, so much. Thanks for the love and prayers! The work in Gijón is moving slowly at the moment, but that won´t last long!!
 

Hurrah for Israel! ;)
 

Love,
 

Hermana Grover