Barcelona Mission: (Zaragoza) Week-26 2012

Hi, First of all I apologize that I didn´t email yesterday, I just ran out of time!

I am doing well and it's been cold here. The weather is very extreme. HOT and then COLD there is like no middle. And it poured down rain on Saturday. I went through those two pairs of boots that I was wearing in Salt Lake City and they both got water inside, so I finally had to throw them away...And I found some new ones and bought them yesterday. I think they will last me the last 5 months of the mission.

Hermana Jorgensen, my new companion is amazing and I love being with her.

We had interviews with the President in Lleida on Friday. The Churchs drove us there, once again. I love them so much and will miss them SO much. I will be sad to leave Zaragoza, when the time comes. Like I've said, it's an amazing place.

Maria and Kate got baptized and it was beautiful!! They were so nervous and excited at the same time. Kate brought like 10 women-all her friends to support her. It was so exciting. As she got out of the water...she looked overjoyed as she walked up the stairs out of the baptismal font. With a huge smile, she said "I DID IT!" "I MADE IT!"

Kate is really special. She went from smoking 10 cigarettes a day to only 3 to none! When we first met with her she didn´t know that there was a way for her to stop smoking. She told us, "If you know of a way, let me know!" She didn´t think it was possible. She is originally from Nigeria, Africa and has been living here for 10 years or so. Kevin, her son, is 14 years old and only speaks Spanish so it is a bit difficult for them to communicate (and we have been trying to meet with him too!).  She said, "Whenever you people come over I am happy and I feel relieved like weights are lifted from my shoulders." We explained to her the purpose of the Spirit. When we asked her if she wanted to still get baptized and quit smoking in such a short time she said, "I have always wanted to be baptized. This is my chance and I will not miss it." When we asked her how she felt she said, "I feel this happiness like I cannot stop smiling and when I read in the Book of Mormon I am happy. My friends ask me why I am so happy and I tell them I do not know. Why is this happening to me?" We explained the power of the Book of Mormon. SHE IS AMAZING.

In my talk on Sunday I shared Kate's story. We invited her to stop smoking and introduced her to the stop smoking program of the church. I felt impressed to give her the Jesus Christ pass along cards and invited her to put them in places to help remind her of her decision to be baptized. I didn´t know if she would do it...A couple days later we returned and she had a picture of Jesus Christ hanging in every room in her house. It was beautiful! I told them that Jesus Christ´s atonement is for everyone. I said that I knew many of them are converts to the church and all of us have our own challenges that we go through. Then I shared the story that President Gordon B Hinckley shared in the "Preach My Gospel" book about a letter he received from a recent convert woman. She explained how hard it was to be a new convert because you are entering into a new way of life, a new world and how she NEEDED the help of the members. After reading this story in my talk, the story was mentioned later in every class we attended and was mentioned in our Branch council. I hope people will take it to heart and extend their friendship to the new members of the Branch: like Kate. J

So that is Kate. Maria, who is 14 years old, lives with her mom and little sister (who has a LOT of energy!) Her mom is from Nigeria, Africa and Maria was born in Madrid. She is very smart, motivated and optimistic. I look up to her a lot. She helps take care of her family and called to meet with us! She heard about us through a neighbor who was a contacted referral from a recent convert. We started meeting with her but her mom is very busy...we only met with her once. She was on date for the 3rd of November but has never gone to church (not even for Maria´s confirmation, which is surprising because her mom was very proud of Maria´s decision to be baptized. So we often met with Maria outside in a plaza. She learns quickly and is very attentive. She is incredible and a very good positive influence on her little 4 year old sister. Maria was nervous to get baptized but in the end it worked out just perfect. She came out of the water so happy that she was shaking a little. It was a beautiful baptism and she looked beautiful. We are so excited to have another active young woman in the Branch! That makes 2!  We just really need to work with her mom so that they will be able to come to church as a family, which seems to be Maria´s desire as well.

We are putting our faith and confidence to the test and trying to talk to more Spaniards! Now that we have this week to calm down, after the baptisms last weekend, we will focus more on contacting! We know that we can do it with the help of the Lord.

Thank you for your support. LOVE YOU!

Love, Laura

Shopping Mall Zaragoza

Kate & Maria's Baptism

Laura happy to receive her "care package" from home

Laura on the streets of Zaragoza

Barcelona Mission: (Zaragoza) Week-25 2012

This week we have had a lot of success with referrals that people have been giving us.

We have two amazing fechas that are working hard on getting baptized this weekend. Kate is trying to quit smoking, but has faith and is working hard on being able to be baptized. Maria is this amazing 14 year old who loves Young Womens! It was a busy yet great week teaching these two. They are both from Nigeria, and are friends. We are trying to get Kate´s 12 year old son involved and Maria´s mom involved but they just seem to be too busy to have time for us. Families are important so we will keep trying!

We saw many miracles this week and a great one was when our recent converts Pius and Happy showed up at church on their own! They got off on the wrong stop and then they walked for 2 hours but they finally made it soaking wet from the rain. Financially they are still struggling. AND THEN!!! The Wolfarts are amazing. After church Hermana Wolfart invited Happy over to their house. This was so nice because not many members make efforts with our recent converts. Happy was SO excited to go to their house and I was so happy for her. We rode the bus home together and I talked to Pius and Happy about the bus system and how to get to church and back to their house. They said they will remember now and hopefully we'll see them come more.

This week was also very crazy because of the Festivals at Pilar. There were a lot of people and especially teenagers everywhere, which made the streets so packed. I have so many stories to tell you. I have been keeping up pretty well in my journal writing about as much as I can so in the future I can let you in on all the details.

The festival was beautiful. It made proselyting hard because everyone was Catholic and we tried not to contact because we wanted to be respectful. I took a lot of pictures of the huge Virgin Mary statue and all the many beautiful flowers around and pictures of random people in their traditional Spanish clothing. There were religious ceremonies and singing going on and there were performances all around downtown...including this amazing break dance team. I got a lot of videos of them.

That was our week, walking A LOT because the buses were PACKED with people and couldn´t fit us in. Overall, I have really seen the protective hand of the Lord in my life. I am so blessed to be a missionary and to have this protection. I am so blessed to be here and it´s been an amazing year on my mission so far. I have loved every second of it. Thank you for your support and your prayers. I love you all.

Love, Laura

Festivals at Pilar

 

Barcelona Mission: (Zaragoza) Week-24 2012

Hi.
Last week was a LONG week. We went to Barcelona to drop Hermana Reeder off.  We got there Monday morning stayed in the office all morning (got picked up from the train station which was nice so we didn´t have to take the metro to the office), and Hermana Reeder went through her suitcases eliminating and organizing. We went to the Hermanas piso in Barcelona and ate lunch there and took short naps. Hermana Reeder got pretty sick. She kind of had a fever. We then left and went to that locutorio.  Tuesday we went back to the office so she could get medicine from Hermana Pace where we stayed there for a little while.  We later stopped by Burger King and went to Las Ramblas and back to that great food market. I got a jamon bocadillo and fruit and candy and a smoothie-it was so good. Then we went back to the office and then to Singing with the Angels. It was so neat to be out there and to be with all those missionaries. We stood in a big half circle and we sang some hymns. Members came from the nearby cities to say good bye to the four missionaries that were departing. It was fun to see all the sisters and some of the Elders that I know. Then we went to the Hermanas piso in Barcelona but a different Hermanas´ piso this time and there were 9 of us Hermanas staying there that night!! It was wild. I opted to sleep on a thin mattress on the floor. I had said good bye to Hermana Reeder at Singing with the Angels and she spent the night in the mission home Tuesday night and left early Wednesday morning to go back home.  It was hard saying good bye but I knew I would see her again and that it was her time to go. I loved being her companion but I am also way excited to be with Hermana Jorgensen.

Wednesday morning, Hermana Jorgensen and I woke up and took the train back to Zaragoza. It was so nice to be back!! We dropped our stuff off, unpacked a little bit and then we went to district meeting. I love district meetings with Elder Tirado as our district leader-he is amazing and so spiritual and humble. I also LOVE having the Churchs in our district they are really special people and I feel blessed for the opportunity I have to get to know them and be in their presence. Elder Tirado is still training Elder Farah and then Elder Spencer went to Barcelona and picked up a fresh new missionary originally from Brazil but grew up in Malaga, Spain so he speaks perfect Spanish-Elder Oliveira. He is a nice kid.

Then Hermana Jorgensen and I went about running some errands.  We had to buy her a bus pass and figure some other things out.  We still have to get her empadronized in Zaragoza.  We went grocery shopping because we had no food!

Thursday was Hermana Jorgensen´s birthday! The morning was kind of dull. I snuck into our room and made her a card and blew up some happy birthday balloons. She didn´t get any mail because her family didn´t know her new address in time.  She has a lot of birthday packages awaiting her in the office. For lunch we went to the Churchs house. It was so nice to be with them. Hermana Church is the best cook ever. Then we met the elders at our favorite frozen yogurt place: Smooey.  Then we had a few citas and to end the night before we went to Esther and Helen´s house; some of my favorite people and they made Hermana Jorgensen some cake!!  It was so sweet of them. So overall her birthday was pretty good.

Some good memories from the week:
Lost my voice! But I wasn´t sick and didn´t have a sore throat at all. I couldn´t talk from Wednesday until Saturday! Weird! And I was so tired. It is hard sending a companion home. Poor Hermana Jorgensen is my rebound companion. She´s perfect. She has energy to keep me up and going. She is optimistic and she gives great advice and she´s a hard worker. I LOVE HER and I know we will have success together this transfer and I know she is the perfect missionary to keep this area up and going successfully. She is amazing. I am so blessed to be with her.

Bright in his closing prayer after a lesson:
"You know God? I was just walking and I saw my sisters sitting and teaching so I joined with them, and now I am nourished by the good word and I can help others come to you and you´re just full of surprises, God!"  Bright is known in my mind for his amazing prayers. What simplicity. It´s an amazing example to me of the kind of close relationship I want to have with Heavenly Father in my prayers.  Bright tells Him anything and everything.

And Bright got help from the branch president! He now has a place to live and food from the church. He is doing well. And he LOVED Jeffrey R Holland´s talk in the Sunday morning session. When Elder Holland asked the final time: "Do YOU love ME?" Bright almost shouted yes! Haha. I thought he would stand up and shout Hallelujah, start singing the chorus or something hahah. But it was incredible. The whole time he was shaking his head and he even started crying hard. He has an amazing testimony and is such a strong person I really look up to him.

Friday at Happy´s house:
Pius left them to travel to Madrid for the weekend.  He often does this and just leaves Happy and their two children at home. It´s hard for Happy, she often tells us that the children give her headaches. I don´t know how she does it by herself. She is very optimistic and strong, I really look up to her. Anyway, whenever we visit her one of us takes care of the kids, while the other one teaches and then we switch. Well, I forgot to tell Hermana Jorgensen that and so I took care of the kids the whole time to give Happy a break. I was trying to distract and occupy Joseph... hardest task ever, and I had inspiration just to whisper in his ears the three most important words I have learned to say in my life: "I love you."  I whispered it very clearly so he could understand me (he doesn´t speak yet even though he is two years old.  I think he is struggling with the Spanish/English thing). Also, it might be a part of physical and verbal abuse as well, as well as malnutrition.  ANYWAY, I whispered "I love you" and his face lit up. He got the biggest smile on his face. THE BIGGEST SMILE. It was beautiful. It was a miracle. He calmed down. He focused. He pretended to whisper in my ear back.  I kept whispering the same thing over and over in his ear. It was amazing; a moment I will never forget in my life.

Friday at Engracia´s house:
"I only have an hour and a half of work every morning but it´s better than nothing. I may not have food and I may have hard days of hunger but prayer is my alimiento." (alimentation?..I don´t know the word in English... nourishment?). Her faith is incredible. She is incredible!!! I love her SO much.

Saturday was CONFERENCE!!!! J.  We saw the Relief Society session and I had a crying moment. There were three African women in the English room with us and they are all recently baptized. They are the Elders´ recent converts. They don´t know a ton yet but they are so faithful. We stood up and sang “I stand all Amazed” and they were singing horribly at the top of their lungs, but they were proud and praising their Lord and God. Tears came strolling down my face. They are amazing examples. They have probably been through so much. Their culture and life is SO different from mine yet we are sisters in the gospel.  We are daughters of a loving Heavenly Father. He knows us individually and He sent His Son to die for us. Christ died for me and for these amazing women as well. After the song I gave them a tight hug and thanked them for their singing. I even complimented this one woman named Beauty because she was wearing a gorgeous traditional African outfit. She was shocked when I told her she looked pretty. She secretly behind my back told her friend that the American girl said she looked pretty. And then she got out her camera and had the woman take a picture of her. Compliments can go a long way-who knew? It was an incredible moment. After the session I took a picture with all three of those women. And they told the elders before they left: "We saw angels today for the first time" (they were talking about the young adults who sang at the RS Session who were all wearing white shirts). It was amazing.

Sunday at the church building for conference, Hermana Jorgensen, Hermana Church and I had the opportunity to re-watch the Relief Society session but with one of Elder Spencer´s fechas because she couldn´t come to any other session because of work. She is incredible. She LOVED the Relief Society session. She was so impressed with the organization of the church in general and that there was an organization for women. It made me proud and grateful to reflect on the special purpose that the Relief Society has. And she is excited to get baptized this weekend. And she gave us a referral for her friend who also wants to learn more.  Her friend lives in our area! So we get to teach her. J

Sunday between sessions we had a nice luncheon outside of the capilla with tables. Mostly people from the other branch were there but our Branch President and his wife were there. We have such a good relationship now!!! Things have changed completely. I am so blessed to have seen the miracles here in this beautiful area for the past 6 months. I love his wife and he was very kind to us. I love Hermana Jorgensen. She is very up to beat and a quick learner. Her Spanish has improved incredibly since the last time I saw her in the MTC. I am so impressed. She is amazing. I am so lucky to have her and so is Zaragoza.

After the luncheon we got on the bus and picked up our two investigators, Maria (14 year old born in Madrid, but her mom is from Nigeria. Maria speaks perfect Spanish and a little English and her mom speaks English and little Spanish-interesting and common situation among the people here). The other investigators´ name is Kate. She is also from Nigeria. She has three children: 1 here and 2 in Nigeria. All the Nigerians here know each other in some way or another. She is amazing. They both are. We picked them up and Bright and brought them to the church. The church is far and it takes two buses to get there, but they came and I showed them the way. We taught them a lesson in the baptismal font room before the Sunday morning session started and it was amazing. They both are going to be baptized on the 20th! And we need to get Maria´s mom involved and Kate´s son. I don´t remember how old he is. I think he´s eight hopefully. But anyway, they loved conference especially Kate. She loved Elder Holland´s talk. It was the first time that I have seen her face light up. It was neat! Maria stayed in the English room though I suggested she go to the Spanish room. But she chose to stay. She didn´t really say anything afterwards, but we are meeting with both of them this week to talk more about it all.

I loved conference! It was amazing and just what I needed. We couldn´t see the last session but apparently we are going to watch it tomorrow as a district in the church building. I wish more of our investigators, recent converts, and less-actives came because there were a lot of talks that I heard where I thought of some people, but I know that these men are men called from God to speak to us. They were inspired to tell us those things. We are so blessed for this opportunity to hear from them.

I love Zaragoza and I love my new companion. Things are going well and they will get even better. Thanks for your love, support, and encouragement.

Wednesday we are going to Lleida for more training with our Zone; without the Paces and the Churchs. I am excited to go with the elders and we are going to get the double barrel napolitanas again!! I am so excited.

Today for preparation day we are going to a bull fight! My very first one! So we will see how it goes. I am kind of nervous but mostly excited. I will let you know what it´s like.

Thanks for your prayers and advice. Keep continuing forward being true to the faith. J

Love, Laura

Singing Angels

Laura with her new companion Hermana Jorgensen on her birthday at the Church's

Laura with Hermana Jorgensen

Laura at bullfight in Zaragoza

 

Barcelona Mission: (Zaragoza) Week-23 2012

Hello family, 

This last week was fun in Zaragoza, which was Hermana Reeder’s last week before she had to go home to South Jordan, Utah.  Everyone wanted to say goodbye to her and celebrate her birthday with her. Many people surprised her with citas, etc. She had a wonderful week. She loved seeing all the people and doing all the things we did. (We did a lot!!) We are both exhausted. The surprise birthday party with the Relief Society went really well. She had no idea and she was so surprised and happy. She said it was the best birthday she has ever had in her life. She turned 25 years old! I made her a card that had a list of our memories and the dates that they occurred. Then I made a list of our inside jokes/songs/poems. Last, I wrote a list of the things that I learned from her and a thank you letter. It was like a 5 page long card.  And I gave Elder Tirado some money to buy her favorite candies. She loved it all and cried a lot. 

Saturday night we had a Missionary fireside with the two Branches. We had a question and answer session with Hermana Reeder and the members. She played the violin, also. Hermana Church and another member did a tap dance! Then the Elders prepared this very funny skit that I narrated. I have to find a video of it and there are a lot of pictures that I would like to send but this locutorio I am at (internet cafe type place) won´t read my SD card for some reason.  

Hermana Reeder said goodbye to everyone on Sunday. We had an extra good pancake dinner at the Church´s house, which reminded me of home and the U.S.  Then early this morning sweet Abel picked us up (on Thursday for Hermana Reeder´s birthday Abel and Maria Jesus-the ones who took us to the pueblo/castle and gave us cherries-he took us to a really fancy Italian restaurant).  Anyway, Abel took us to the train station so we could go to Barcelona and the Mission office Elders picked us up to take us to the office. There Hermana Reeder weighed her suitcases, had her exit interview with President Pace, and then we went up to the Mission home and she had a video interview. They always interview the leaving Missionaries and show it to the new Missionaries. It was so interesting watching all of that. Hermana Pace showed us around their home and then we left the office, took the metro, and went back to the Hermanas piso (the ones that live near the Sagrada Familia.) Hermana Reeder got kind of sick, too much excitement, probably!  

My new companion is my friend Hermana Jorgenson! I can´t believe we are companions now and it´s going to be great. She and I had a class together at BYU in the Elementary Education program. After we both got our Mission calls, we contacted each other on Facebook and helped each other with ideas on what to pack, and then entered the MTC together on October 12th. We both then got reassigned to the Salt Lake City Mission, because our Visa's hadn't come yet. I was in Rose Park the whole time while she got transferred all around the Mission (mostly in English speaking areas.)  We flew to Madrid together.  Then I went to Sabadell, my first area, and she went to Valencia, where she's been ever since.  I get to show her the area for the next 6 weeks and then I will most likely leave the area in the next transfer in November (I've been here in Zaragoza for 7 months!)  Anyway, I wanted to stay in Zaragoza for a bit longer to strengthen my relationships with the members. I know that the work is still booming and I am happy to be a part of it. There are a lot of amazing people that are potentials to be baptized. I am very hopeful and these next few weeks are going to be great. 

Elvis, our recent convert, is still looking for a job. He has great faith and knows that God will help him. He was able to earn some money by giving our sweet Ward Mission leader Sergio a haircut. 

Happy and Pius are still struggling. They don´t have things for their children...food, diapers...The Branch President is trying to help them. They also don´t have a way to get to church. Happy started walking and got lost on her way yesterday. She called me and gave up hope trying to find the way in her heels and holding her 6 month old baby. It was bad communication, I guess, so when we found a ride for her, she said it was too late. I felt so bad. It is a sad situation. 

Bright is still homeless. Sweet Sergio agreed to let him put all of his stuff in his piso. Sergio lives with other family members so there is no room for Bright to live with them. Bright always seems to come to church looking good and still is reading and studying the gospel. Luckily he has papers to work here. The economy is so bad and there are hardly any jobs available. Sergio is a saint and is just driving these people around, serving them...even though he doesn´t have a job either and his car is breaking down... 

Engracia is still doing well in church and fits right in. She is lucky to have a job to go to everyday, also! 

Overall, I am shocked by how much faith these people have! They are incredible! They always remind me that God knows how they feel and that He is aware. They are pretty optimistic and just keep moving forward living day to day. And they are very glad that they have been baptized. They can recognize the Holy Ghost in their lives. I have hope and faith that things will soon work out for them... 

Our District here in Zaragoza is amazing. We sure love our Elders and together as a District this week we had 9 baptisms!!! Our Zone exceeded our goal of 10 baptisms (we had 11 in the Lleida Zone). It´s incredible to see the miracles and be a part of them. But most of all to be instruments in the hands of the Lord. He is preparing people to come to accept the gospel and enter the waters of baptism. It was a blessing to help 4 people be baptized this last month. :) 

Tomorrow night Hermana Jorgensen and I are going to "Singing with the Angels"; it is a tradition that is done every 6 weeks for Missionaries who are at the end of their Mission. We gather in downtown Barcelona in Plaza Catalunya (close to that food market we went to last week). Members come to it to say goodbye to the departing Missionaries and we sing hymns. It will be my first time and I am so excited! I will tell you all about it later. Then we will be catching a train early Wednesday morning to go back to Zaragoza. 

This week is Hermana Jorgenson´s birthday!! So many birthdays! It is on Thursday and I saved some balloons from Hermana Reeder´s birthday and talked to a few members and set up a few visits that we can do...I hope she enjoys it. 

Always adventures here and I love it and am so grateful for the Paces and for the chance I have to be here in Spain. I feel I am progressing and growing a lot. I have for sure learned a lot and my eyes have really been opened to different situations that I never thought I would ever see. I have learned a lot about myself... what I struggle with, my weaknesses, and how to overcome them to become a better person.  I have a lot of work to do...a phrase in Spanish "poco a poco" little by little. I am grateful to be here. Thanks Dad and Mom for teaching me and raising me right. I love you so much and pray for you often. I hope you´re doing well. 

Love, Laura

Abel & Maria-Jesus took Laura & Hna Reeder out for last time

With the Diaz Family. Dad is 1st counselor in Branch Presidency

With Sergio - Branch Mission Leader

Surprise Birthday and Going Away Party for Hna. Reeder

Hna. Reeder's departure before returning home.

Light Show at Barcelona "La Sagrada Familia"