Something interesting is that I was in
Sabadell 2nd Ward, Zaragoza 2nd Branch, and now I am in Hospitalet 2nd Ward!
And something historical just happened here
in the Spain Barcelona Mission! Earlier
today, the Hospitalet Stake was divided and the Lleida Stake was created, which
will be the eleventh Stake in Spain. Our Mission now has five Stakes of
Zion. Every square meter of our Mission
is now included either in the Barcelona, Hospitalet, Lleida, Valencia, Vitoria
Stakes, or the Baleares District. It is
exciting to see the church growing dramatically in the Spain Barcelona Mission.
Thanks to the Missionaries of El Faro, having faith, obedience, and diligence,
that made this growth a reality. After nine years of devoted service, Luis
Rodriguez was released as Hospitalet Stake President and his former counselor,
Fernan Silvestre, was sustained as the new Hospitalet Stake President. The
units in the Hospitalet Stake now include; Cornellá, Hospitalet 1, Hospitalet
2, Martorell, Tarragona, and Vilafranca(which is a Ward now!) Jose Luis Hernandez is the first Stake
President of the Lleida Stake. The units of the Lleida Stake are; Andorra,
Lleida, Sabadell 1, Sabadell 2, Terrassa, Zaragoza 1, and Zaragoza 2. And now
Zaragoza 1 is a Ward! We've reached our
goal of 600 baptisms in 2012, also!!
Here in
Hospitalet there are two Hermanas in the Ward and two Elders, which are our
Zone Leaders; and one just happens to be Elder Tirado. ...haha. He will be in my District my whole time here
in Spain! (except during the 5 weeks I served in Sabadell)
He is the one I
mentioned a while ago that will be the Weber State University Mascot in Utah
after his Mission. (lucky, he has a full scholarship).
Anyway, here I
am in Hospitalet. I was here before with
Hermana Reeder when she had to get her fingerprints done back in September.
Then, I met some of the members and they remember me! The Hermanas just got a new piso here which
is great! (The old one was terrible.) So
I am serving right here close to Barcelona!
I will be taking the Metro everywhere; no more bus riding which will be
really different and will be doing a lot of walking. The weather here is better than in Zaragoza,
it's not as cold and doesn't have the crazy wind. I am not too far away from the Mission home
and the Mission office, which is exciting because I will be able to see the
Paces more.
My new address is:
Rambla Badal 28-30
8,3 esc A
08014 Barcelona, Spain
or you can still send things to the Mission office and I will get
them a lot quicker because I am so close now!
calle calatrava 10-12 bajos
08017 Barcelona, Spain
My new companion is Hermana Marissa Walker
from Las Vegas, Nevada. She and her companion Hermana Cozzolino were from
Pamplona and stayed with us for 2 ½ weeks during the festival and running of
the bulls there. (also Hermana Walker served in Zaragoza last year for a few
months). So, now we're companions here in Hospitalet. She has been with Hermana
Stephenson (my first comp. in Zaragoza!)
So I took Hermana Stephenson´s place. Anyway, Hermana Walker is going
home this transfer! I am "killing" another missionary! It will be
interesting; I was hoping that I wouldn´t have to send home another one again; and
I am almost positive that I will "die" here (stay here until the end
of my mission-until March). But, it will be good, hard again but good. There is
a reason for everything and the Lord knows where I need to be.
In my piso also are Hermana Farrell and
Hermana Mancera and I will tell you more about them in the future.
It was a fast and interesting transfer. The
next one will be in five weeks because they don´t want to do transfers on
Christmas day and the one after will be seven weeks. So Hermana Walker´s
parents are coming to get her on the 17th and they will tour around the
Mission, including Zaragoza. It will be interesting to see what our short time
together will be like!
This last week was one of the best weeks of
my Mission. It was amazing. Hermana Jorgensen has helped change my life for the
better and it was inspiration for us to have been together. I have learned so
much from her. She knows so much about the gospel and she has such a strong
testimony. I will miss her so much.
Dulce is really amazing and her baptism was
so great! She has a lot of faith and is
progressing well in the church. Everyone was sad that she couldn´t come to the
conference yesterday because she had other things going on.
The relationships with the Zaragoza members
were so great and they were so good to us by feeding us and helping us when
they could. It was a miracle the way everything worked out and I know Hermana
Jorgensen and Hermana Cruz will do really well there keeping the momentum
going. I will miss it a lot-my heart is there in Zaragoza-but I am looking
forward to working in my new area with my new companion.
One thing that really helped our
relationships with the members was when we all took the bus up to Cornella for
Stake conference and to hear the announcement of the new Stake in Lleida. We
had amazing conversations with them and really got to know them better. It took
four hours to get there and four hours back!
A long time to be in a bus, but it was wonderful!
Also, we had the opportunity to visit many
members´ homes so I could say good bye. This really helped Hermana Jorgensen
get to know people better and she was able to set up future citas with some of
them so they could get to know Hermana Cruz. The future will be great in
Zaragoza and I am happy to see it progressing.
It was an incredible experience that has changed my life.
This is a little part from my email to
Hermana Reeder (who actually ran into Sister Jarman (Tori) when she was
traveling. I had told her about Tori and
she took a picture with her and sent it to me J)
Please pray for Pres and Sis Wolfart. Pres Wolfart is in the hospital and the
doctors still don´t know what he has L it’s been a month and he can't walk very well and is losing
feeling in his feet and hands!)
Before I left Zaragoza, I made a journal and had everyone write in it. It is beautiful and thick! I can’t wait to show it to you and describe all these people and what they mean to me in my life and how they have helped me become the person I am today. I will have to translate the letters for you. L
Before I left Zaragoza, I made a journal and had everyone write in it. It is beautiful and thick! I can’t wait to show it to you and describe all these people and what they mean to me in my life and how they have helped me become the person I am today. I will have to translate the letters for you. L
Also, I got a lot of gifts! People are so sweet. Even though they don´t have a lot of money
they are so caring and have so much love and give so much. I got scarves, a
beanie, a bracelet, earrings, purses, etc.
But most important to me are pictures with them and their letters in my
journal.
It was a bitter sweet experience saying bye. It was hard.
I love you. I will talk to you soon.
Love, Laura
Laura with Zaragoza Branch Pres. Gomez and his wife Resa
Arriving in Barcelona at train station with new companion Hna. Walker, old companion Zaragoza Hna Stephensen & Zone Leaders
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