Email 74 - Quite Possibly Chrissy's Last Email from Madrid! (Homeward bound December 30...15 Days Away!)

"Best Trio Ever"

Hermana Grover, Hermana Pavez, Hermana Ross

"At the end of Hna Ross´s first full day! So, so tired, haha."

 "Stumbling upon a Christmas festival! We went back during medio dia for crepes :) mmmm. That juggler guy ran up to us and yelled, "IT´S CHRISTMAS!" and gave me a big hug before I could do anything about it, haha.

Good stuff. Good week. Love you!" 

 "We tried to replicate the shot Hna F and I have of when we first met our trainers. Cute!"
Below is the original photo from the start of Hermana Fuller's and Grover's missions.

"Freakin´ out over the crazy glasses Mom sent! Haha, I wish I´d had my voice recorder out when we all, one by one, said, "wait, I don´t get--WHAT THE HECK! HOW DOES IT DO THAT??" Hahaha. Those glasses turn lights into little reindeer heads!"

Hey guys :)

This week has been NUTS! And also fantastic. My companions are hilarious and I love them. Here´s a little bit about the two crazies I´m living with:

Hermana Ross: 7 days into the mission, 5´7, from PENNSYLVANIA, so she and I get to talk about wonderful things like Tastykakes, Philly cheese steaks, Hanover pretzels etc. Everytime she says the word "day," her NE accent makes me smile. When she´s not wearing her Harry Potter shirt to bed, she´s wearing a Phillies shirt. She has a really chill sense of humor, catches movie quotes, and has the best let´s-take-this-as-it-comes attitude I´ve ever seen in a new missionary. SUPER impressive. Also, her family looks really familiar and she said Dad looks familiar to her (crossing paths in PA? Or the Pre-mortal life? ;)

Hermana Pavez: 10 months into the mission, 5´, from Argentina but lives in Malaga! She´s the most adorable latina in the world. She´s teaching me how to flamenco dance and make yummy Argentinian desserts. Definitely the best teacher I´ve met out here in the mission field. She´s super patient, laughs at absolutely everything, and is always positive.

Yeah, I´m wondering how I got so lucky too :) We´ve been having a lot of fun together, and I´m amazed by how well we´re working together already. HUGE blessing.

What makes this all even cuter is that Hna Fuller´s training, too. So we started together, being trained, and now we finish together... training. PRECIOUS. It´s so funny to see our greenies hugging on each other and being the support that Hna F and I were together up in Gijon. Full circle, folks.

Unfortunately, I have some sad news. First off, I´m so, so touched by all of your prayers for E--, that was really sweet and I hope to tell her in some opportune moment that you´ve been doing that. She does, however, still have her agency, and has chosen to not come to church, keep commitments, or prevent her boyfriend from moving back in with her. We´re pretty bummed, but we´re still looking for a miracle!

We´ve seen a couple already, too. This Sunday I was thrilled to see an old investigator named A-- (I never taught her but had met her while Hna H was still here. She and her previous comp had taught her a lot), and Veronica show up to church!! Also, A----- came again (I don´t think I´ve told you about her, she´s a girl from Paraguay who had showed up to church a while ago saying, "I´m an inactive member who was baptized in my country 6 years ago and I want to come back" but then disappeared again). Good stuff! We´re also meeting with a lot of new people and actually had a super solid lesson with Aida´s aunt this week about the Plan of Salvation.

This week I´ve been doing everything I can to be the missionary I want to be. I´ve thought a lot about times when I´ve felt the happiest with who I am, and I´ve been trying to pinpoint what changes to make me feel that way, and I finally got it. When I´m doing all I can to turn outward and not think about myself, that´s when I´m the happiest. I remember once, in high school, making the goal to ALWAYS do the little things I would want someone else to do for me (like going out to their car to get something with them, helping lug band practice equipment during a water-break, helping someone out with the crazy guidance counselors, etc), and that was without a doubt my happiest time in that crazy place.

Now, with two new companions, there´s always a LOT to be done. There´s a lot of records to update, organizing to do, meals to prepare, etc, but the thing that´s making it all so easy is that it seems that all three of us have that same "turning outward" mindset. I hope to keep this up, as well as we have this week, for the rest of my time out here, and for the rest of my life.

Now, I´m not exactly sure how this´ll work, but I think this may be the last time I get to email you guys from over here in Spain. I hope you all know how much I love you and how much closer I´ve felt to every one of you since entering the mission field. I´ve thought about you, prayed and fasted for you, more than you could know. 

I know with all my heart, and with everything else I´ve got, that what I´ve been out here teaching and you´ve been back home living is true. Pure, untarnished, unchanged truth. Heavenly Father lives. Jesus Christ came to the Earth as an innocent child, suffered for each of us personally, and was resurrected after His death. And my favorite part is that He hasn´t gone anywhere! He still lives and He still can be an active part of our lives if we let ourselves feel and follow His loving influence. 

I´m so, SO grateful for the chance I´m having to share this message with my buddies over here in this crazy, wonderful country. And I´m grateful that the time to be finally reunited with you all, my very best buddies, is coming up. 

I sure love you guys!!

-Hermana Chrissy Grover

PS- We´ll Skype at 4:30pm my time here in Spain, which I assume is 12:30 your time over in the 321. See ya then!

Email 73 - Training Again! Three Weeks Remaining!

 "Mission leadership council! President played the accordian for us :)"

 "My best Alcobendas buddies at the temple for a baptism! (the closest baptismal font for us is in the stake center at the temple)"

"Waiting for transfer calls...they came an hour and a half later than when they said they would..."

 "And then that one of me and Hna H is with Patricia (not our investigator, but a sweet member who invited us over to eat)."

 "(With) Lisa, that adorable member who I love so much. She headed to Paraguay this week to finally see her daughters for the first time in 2 years!!"

Hey guys!

Okay, I should be able to come back and fill you all in a little better on what´s been going down, but I wanted to at least give you the scoop in case I don´t get a chance to.

Hna Hillman got transferred!! We were not expecting that one. All 4 of us Hnas were together when our District Leader called, but he didn´t realize it. He was talking to Hnas Shurtz and Fuller, and said, "and then Hna Fuller will spend the next couple of days with Hna Grover and Hna Pavez..." haha. It was crazy. Hna H took it like a champ, though. I´m gonna miss that kid.

So here´s the scoop: Hna Hillman headed up to VIGO this morning, Hna Shurtz is headed to the islands in an hour, and Hna Fuller and I are both TRAINING. AGAIN. Hna Pavez is going to be with me and our trainee (we´ll pick her up tomorrow), because I´m headed out in the middle of the transfer.

I´m excited, because I know this is really going to push me hard during my last little while out in the field, but it´s also a little stressful because I really thought my comp was sticking around, and now I just have 3 weeks to area train, haha... bring it on!

I already know and love Hna Pavez, so it should be fun. She´s from Argentina, but lives in Andalucia, and we´ve been on a couple of intercambios (exchanges) before. She´s also been Hna Fuller´s companion before :) Good stuff all around.  So now we´ve just got to figure out how in the world to fit 3 people into our itty bitty apartment and we´re good! ;)

By the way, your emails were fantastic this week. Like I´ve said before, I´m excited to see all of these charades games and rainy runs in person. It sounds like you´re all doing awesome. 

Other news from o´er here:

-E--´s progressing little by little. Thank you SO much for your prayers, that´s so thoughtful and wonderful of you. I know it´ll make a big difference. She still hasn´t made it to church, so we´re pushing her date to the 27th, and she´s still really nervous, but we´re going to have Andres come with us this week and give her a blessing. Again, thank you for the prayers!

-It´s COLD. I´m well-equipped. But it´s COLD.

-Have I told you David Archuleta´s coming to our mission? He comes on the 21st, and we´re having a cool exclusive devotional with him, all of the missionaries in the Madrid area, and up to 4 of our investigators each. Should be pretty cool.

-The Church is really pushing the missionaries to work with the "He is the Gift" video (yeah, Brad, I saw it. It´s gorgeous!!), so we got special pass-along cards with the challenge to get them all passed out this month, and we´re supposed to show the video as many times as possible. Apparently there´s a big billboard in Times Square right now that says, "He is the Gift." Cool, right??

-I got to have my last mission leadership council this week! It was a surprisingly sentimental one. President basically gave us a devotional instead of leading a council. We talked a lot about Christmas and our families, and how we were going to transmit those blessings we have to the people here in Spain. And then we sang 8 Christmas songs to finish because the harmony sounded so cool and President Jackson kept naming off more songs to sing. And then he whipped out the accordian, haha. 

The strangest thing was getting asked to share a "farewell testimony" though. Oof. We had Hna Mather in our piso last night, because she heads home tomorrow, and it felt strange talking to her about seeing her at BYU in 4 weeks. It just seems like a joke, like it´s not real.

-Teaching with Hna Crandall in Zone Training this week was super fun. We got to teach all about families, and we had probably the most inspired lesson-planning sesh I´ve ever had beforehand. It was cool. She´s currently training a missionary from TAHITI! So her french is really coming in handy, and it sounds like it all came flooding back.

So life is good over here! Hopefully I´ll get to come back to send some pics :)

Love you guys!!!

-Hna Grover

P.S.  Have you seen this?? This is BRILLIANT! Share it with the world :) http://beta.mormon.org/quiz/mormon_iq.php 

Email 72 - 100% at Peace in the Temple (Plus lots of incredible photos!)

 "This guy owned one of the shops we stopped in, and started teaching us typical Spanish Christmas songs.  I don't remember any, but it was hilarious. :)"

"This piglet is a specialty of Segovia...no, I didn't try it."

"(Friend from home) Aida's Aunt Sandra"

"Realizing how well we could hear the neighbors downstairs during planning one night."

Thanksgiving!

"Definitely the best Thanksgiving a foreign missionary could ask for."

Hey fam!

Happy Thanksgiving!! ´Sounds like it was a good one. I´m glad there was plenty of turkey trotting and... steak? Haha. Sounds like everybody had a good week. Thanksgiving was pretty fantastic for us, too. Hermana Jackson makes amazing food. We all felt very, very spoiled, haha. We even got a second Thanksgiving the next day when we were invited by the cute family of 6 from Utah on Friday. I brought chocolate cheesecake to both ;)

Though I will say that going out to contact on the streets being that full of turkey was a little tough, haha.

And Mike and Alicia are having a BABY! Aunt Chrissy. Aunt Chris? Auntie C. Hmmmm. ;)

Also glad to get the report from B-rad and Kate on the looks of the new Star Wars movie, haha. 

Good stuff all around.

So we went to Segovia today! That was fun. I took a lot of photos. A loooot of photos. I´m just gonna send them all to you so I don´t have to worry about losing them. Hope you don´t mind getting your inboxes clogged! ;)

We had a pretty good week, too. Things in general felt like they were moving pretty slowly, which was frustrating, but Hna Hillman and I had a good planning session last night, and we´ve got a lot of goals set to finally see some more tangible progress.  

We haven´t been able to see E--, or a lot of the other people we´ve been visiting, BUT I did get to go visit a member reference... from Aida Chilan! She has an aunt that lives a 3 minute walk away from our apartment! Her name´s S----a, and she´s awesome. We had a really sweet visit with her. She even offered to call Aida for me because she knows we won´t see each other before her mission, haha.

We also had a really special experience in the temple on Wednesday. More than ever before, I just had the overwhelming feeling of being home. Not the home I left a year and a half ago, but the one I left 20 years ago. It was GREAT. Of course that´s something we can feel every time we´re in the Lord´s house, but it hit me particularly hard this time, and it was beautiful. I just felt comfortable, and totally 100% at peace. There´s always plenty to stress about as a missionary, so it was a welcome break. 

Last night, we watched "Your Wonderful Journey Home," a talk from President Uchtdorf to the YW, with the Relief Society. We set up a little activity, and it turned out great!! It´s such a sweet talk, because President Uchtforf just lays things out so simply and sweetly. We´re Heavenly Father´s children, and we´re working on getting back home to Him. We had high expectations for ourselves, we knew what this was all for, and we´ve got a map, and a lot to do down here, but we can make it all work and do it with a smile. 

My favorite part of this darling talk was his testimony at the end:

"As an Apostle of the Lord I leave you a blessing that you will find your way on this journey home and that you will be an inspiration to your fellow travelers. It is also my promise and prayer that as you honor and live true to the covenants, the principles, and the values of the gospel of Jesus Christ, at the end of your journey Heavenly Father will be there. He will embrace you, and you will know once and for all that you have made it home safely."

I got a sneak peek of that feeling in the temple, and it´ll be a good day when we can all feel it there in the presence of the Lord. Sometimes we lose track of it, but that´s really what I´m doing out here in Spain; helping other people find their way there.

Sorry this was a short one, but I should probably get to sending those photos... I´m sure I´ll have more to talk about next week :)

Love you guys!!!-Hna Grover