Email 38 - "We have so much work! I love it!"

"Hermana Palomino and I decided that we´d had enough lazy p-days, so today we ventured deep into the big bad city and got some tourist shots :)"

 

"They have popsicle stands all over the place here with popsicles made of pure pureéd fruit. Mmmm. Mango´s the best one."

"We´ve walked past a bakery that had these cookies smiling at me for far too long... and then we finally bought some. :) True story."

"This was a happy moment in our piso after our satisfying service project (first time wearing jeans in months, haha)."

"Conference reunions :D"

Hello my wonderful family!  

Thank you for all the emails!!! I love love love hearing how you guys are doing :D I got your letter for my comp all translated, Dad, thanks again for sending that :) I´m going to wait ´til the printed version comes to give her the translation along with it.

And thanks for the letter from Longboat Key, Mom! I also finally got the Liahonas that you sent to Gijón in December, haha. Thank you!

My finger is indeed still attached, and I´m starting to get used to playing the piano/ typing/using utensils without using my pointer finger, haha. Definitely a skill I didn´t think I´d ever need... It´s finally starting to look a little more normal, haha, so no worries!

Hna Thunborg had to laugh yesterday when I walked in to the chapel with skinned knees and elbows because I´d just fell on some cobblestones. It reminded us of Neville in Harry Potter... "why´s it always me?" Hahaha, oh well.

Anyways, despite my battle wounds ;) this was an awesome week!! Now that we´ve taken on our old piso-mates´ area in addition to our own, we have so much work!! I love it! That being said, it´s going to be a little harder to keep you all updated on everyone, but I´ll do my best :)

We haven´t met with F------o in over a week because he´s been working late, and we´re pretty worried about him. He sounds pretty awful on the phone each time we call. All that´s left for him is making a decision to let this beautiful Gospel change his life!

S---y is progressing super well. He came to two of the Conference sessions yesterday, and he wore a tie! He´s been going to the employment center that´s here on the temple grounds, and he made a bunch of friends there that also got him working on his family history! We had no idea that this was going on, so we were very surpised when the Conference finished and he was suddenly surrounded by a bunch of members from the stake! So cool! We´ve got him set for baptism on the 19th, but we might just bump that forward. 

A----o is also progessing, and unfortunately, wasn´t able to make it to Conference. He actually showed up to the chapel, but felt intimidated when he walked in and saw everyone in suits, so he left!! AH! (That was a very, very good idea, Dad, to give Ben and Bradley a heads up on that... we definitely won´t forget it next time!) The cool thing, though, is that the temple caught his attention, so he stayed on the temple grounds with his daughter, simply enjoying the Spirit that´s there :) He even recognized some of the symbolism in the stained-glass windows! Most of the people here that have been members their whole lives don´t even recognize that until we give them a tour!

And we finally saw some progression in R-----o and V-------a this week!!! On Saturday morning, we went with our mission-mother (Rosanna- AWESOME member. She´s always feeding us, haha) and attacked that man´s house with scrubbers and bleach in hand. Housework has been neglected in his apartment for a pretty significant amount of time, so it was a very satisfying service opportunity. Almost three hours after we´d started, the house was sparkling, and the Spirit just flooded that little piso. It was so cool!!! And he even prayed after our spiritual thought. The two of them also came to a Conference session and then we all went to Rosanna´s to eat. Good, good stuff.

So Conference was pretty amazing, huh? We got to watch it in the chapel with the whole stake, and I got to see Hna Fuller, Hna Cançado, and Hna Thunborg!! We were able to watch the majority of it in english, but we couldn´t watch the Sunday afternoon session, because it´s on past our missionary bedtime :( ´Looking forward to reading it soon, though!!!

The overarching theme of this Conference, for me, was: stay on track, persevere, and be the LOVING, faithful, happy, grateful people you outta be! And, if you´ll just keep your focus on the Savior, you´re gonna be just fine. 

That´s definitely something we´re constantly working on helping those we´re teaching understand. We show up to appointments all happy and smiley, with a message of hope and joy, and witness as past relationships, unemployment, doctrinal misunderstandings, pure disbelief, addictions, the death of their dog, their broken washing machine, what they saw last night on the news and every other trial you can think of, builds a spiritual barrier- preventing them from accepting what we teach. A lot of them think they´ve already ruined their "4 minutes," and it sometimes takes a lot of patience as we try to help them overcome their pasts.

But, little by little, miracles happen :) We honestly see miracles everyday! Conference was such a boost, as always. I know that the Heavens are open, and I love seeing its influence on our investigators and less actives.

Keep being awesome, family o´ mine, keep watching for miracles, keep reading the Conference talks, and, remember, you are infinitely more important to God than a tree ;)

Love you tons!!!!

-Hna Grover