Week 4 of transfer 2 in Leon Spain

Alright, this is the theme for the week, and also the movie quote. This should be easier than a corn harvest in Rhode island on the last day in February. So, pretty easy. "You gotta keep on keepin on. Life's a garden, dig it, make it work for you."

Anyone, Anyone?

Okay well, this week has been excellent! We had some great successes, and countless failures, but that's life right? We learned a lot, and put in practice a lot of the things that we learned from last week. SO many of you know that I have a phobia of talking to people on the phone. I despise it. Also I can't really swallow pills. When I get sick, I get the children's medicine so I don't have to take a pill. The lord has helped me overcome these things as I have been on my mission. As a missionary, one of the most important tools that we have is our phone, but it doesn't do any good if you don't use it. This is the same principle with pills. Often times when you are sick or have a headache, you can take a pill and all is well, but again it is no good to you is you do not utilize it. This is my sermon this week, Use the things that the lord gives you to make life easier. Just as the quote says, life truly is a garden, and what do you use to till, and tend your garden (LIFE)? We use the tools of the lord: the scriptures, prayer, fasting, attending church meetings, general conference, a living prophet. All of these are things that we can use to help fill our gardens with life, and nourishment.  Use the things the lord gives you, and do not take them for granted.

P.S. Sorry for going Missionary mode on you there, I'm reading in the New Testament right now and I am just loving the parables. Money.

LUNES:

Okay so after we carved pumpkins, and emailed, we left and started to proselyte. As we were walking, and contacting we were able to contact this really cool, really catholic lady, and a family. I love contacting families because you not sure who to talk to, or look at but The gospel blesses families, and helps parents be better parents, and kids be better kids. We were able to get not only the ladies number, but also the number of the dad from the family! Way cool. After that, we passed by an old investigator from like a 2 years ago. Her name is thalia. So let's start at the beginning. Well teresa is the mom of eduardo. Eduardo is the husband of thalia. They are all from Mexico. So teresa, and eduardo became members in Mexico and then moved here. Thalia was investigating the church for years and years since she was 17, and then married eduardo who was already a member. The whole family was going to church every Sunday. They came to every activity, but then they all of the sudden stopped. So when I first got here, we passed by eduardo a few times, and talked to him, but we didn't try to go in because the previous missionaries had tried talking thalia, and she said that she didn't want anything, and was kind of rude to them. Those missionaries told my companion not to contact her, but then she did and got a cold response. A few days ago, we were going through the phone calling people and i saw her number and called her, and i didn't have any clue about this whole story. She answered and was super nice and we set up an appointment, and then we passed by and she wasn't there. SO this day, we just thought to pass by and she was home and let us in, and we were able to teach her and her kids! IT was crazy... Miracles. We invited her to the Halloween party were having on Friday.

MARTES:

SO today we visited our good friend hortenisa and she is doing really good. Her son mosiah, our friend submitted his papers to serve a mission, and we are awaiting his call, or his assignment on where he will serve. Were pretty stoked to see where he will go. After that, we were walking right outside of hortensia's house when we ran into Nalda! We have visited her a few times in the last few weeks to teach her and her daughters English. Her family are the 7th day Adventists. They are way cool. So we got there, and then she insisted on making us food. She made a bunch of food, and then made us eat all of it. It was crazy. So they are vegans, and don't eat meat, or use animal products so it was like a flash to the past from when my mom did that. It was cool, and her food was super tasty. Then after that, we waddled to Sandra's store, and ran into rocio while we were there. It was cool to see her again. She is the cousin of Sandra's boyfriend nd we met her a few weeks back. SO after that, we ran to the capilla, and had a really great English class with 3 new people that found the flyers we made. I guess people really do look at those. Then after that, instead of having "Noche de jas", we helped our mission leader, Pedro buy and decorate for the upcoming Halloween party, with his kids and Lucy and mosiah. We wen to a chino, and also we bought our costumes for the party. Oh, so today the schedule changed. So normally we wake up at 7:30 and then go to bed at 11:30, but for the winter it is shifted earlier because it's cold, and dark, and no one is outside. So now we wake up at 7:00 and then go to bed at 11:00. SO we had to eave early from decorating. 

MIERCOLES:

Okey dokey.. Well this morning we got a text from mosiah, and then called him and he told us that he got his mission call in the mail. When we had talked to him on Martes he said that it would probably be like 1 or 2 more weeks till he got it. So we were pretty shocked when he called us. So we made plans to go over to his house after district meeting to watch him open it. So we had  great district meeting, and then ate a sandwich, and us and the elders ran to his house and watched him open his call. SO mosiah thought he was going to Malaga, Spain. I said Buenas Aires, Aregentina; or Houston, Texas. SO he opened his call and He is going to Fortaleza, Brazil!!!! HE was shocked. IT was awesome, and then he was reading it about when he was supposed to report and he said july.. And everyone was like, July? Jeez, thats like a really long time to wait. But then he showed us, and his whole call was in spainsh obvouisly except for the date which said January. SO he it leaving in January. SO he made us erase the video and do it again so he could read the date right. I didn't erase it.. SO for the next video we all faked it. IT was awesome. After that, we went and finished mostly decorating the capilla for the party. Then we had a great lesson with this guy named carlos. He was investigating the church for years, and had read the book of Mormon twice. So just for reference we met him contacting like 3 weeks ago, and found this out when we met with him. He was going to church every Sunday, but then his mom got sick, and he lost his dad, and stopped coming and ended up losing contact with the missionaries for 3 years, and we just happened to find him. He is like the most golden amigo ever. It's amazing. Then we met with Maria Dolores, and she it still doing good. Still sick and old, but reading every night from the Book of Mormon, and wants to learn more. Oh man, sh gave us this sugar bred thing. It was soooooo good. 

JUEVES:

SO Today we made the chili for the Halloween party. It was pretty awesome. The elders said that they are bringing Funeral potatoes, so I am pretty stoked for that. After that, we went by and visited Cordula. She is the mom of Jose Antonio, who is one of our members. She is like 88, but is a hoot! She was making the best jokes, and they had those butter cookies in the tin. So they put those out for us and forced us to eat them. I ate like 20, no joke. Then after that we were contacting in the street and met this girl from Georgia, and we chatting her up in English, which was weird. She was super cool, and is teaching English here I guess, but she doesn't speak Spanish. IT was cool. 

VIERNES:

SO the first person that we visited today was Sandra. She it the lady with the stores. SO we passed by and out of nowhere invited us to have lunch with her in her apartment. We have been praying and fasting to meet with her outside her store. She is super sweet and really wants to believe that things that we tell her about to Gospel are true, bu it is kind of hard to have a lesson when people walk into her store all the time. SO we finally were able to meet with her. It was awesome. Then we had an appointment with our member friend Nina, from Brazil. She lives in San Andreas, which is outside of LEon, so by the time we left Sandras we had missed to first bus to San Andreas. SO we ran to the ATM to pull out cash for the us because you can't use a card, and the ATM wouldn't work with our cards, so then me missed the other bus, so then we ended up walking to her house, which takes about an hour and a half, power walking. SO we basically ran there, and then after our lesson, Pedro our ML had to drive and pick us up for the Halloween party. The party was awesome! We had about 65 people there, and like 20 of them were not members. Thalia and her kids came, and maribel and her family came too! It was really a success. So there was also a competition of food, like the dish of your country, and i made chili. We won with the chili! I couldn't believe it. Then we taught a dance,and had a costume comp, and played some games, and ate some candy. I was a dead person for Halloween. Like always. 

SABADO:

SO today we went and cleaned to capilla from the party last night. It was destroyed. So this weekend is the District conference, which is like Stake conference only smaller. So president pack came down, and we had interviews with him. Then we walked around and called a bunch of people, and set up lots of appointments for next week. Afterwards we had English class. SO there is this super cute lady who comes to English class every Martes, and this time she brought us cream puffs that she made. They were seriously amazing. After that we contacted and received 5 numbers. A new record for one night!!! 

DOMINGO:

Well We had district conference at the hotel san marcos. IT was awesome. Look it up, it is really pretty, and old. So we had the opportunity of hearing from Elder pilz, of the 70. IT was awesome, because he is from Germany and has a great accent, but he only speaks German and English, so he spoke in English, and had a translator to translate it into spanish. Then we heard president pack speak as well. We had  good lesson with Maria Dolores, and she made us some little fried cheese croquet's. The were a touch unhealthy but, no biggy. Then we shared with the family Rivera about how we came make our homes like the temple. They really liked it. Well it has been a great week. 

Thank for all of the awesome emails, and have a great week. Love you.

These are the San Marcos Hotel where we had the conference. Also Mosiah getting his mission call with Elders Reese and Gearing.

Week 3 of Transfer 2 in Leon 

 Hello. Quote of the week: "C'mon grampa, he worked really hard on this. Grandpa: So does a washing machine." Bet you can't get it.  Well this week has been excellent and super fast. We went to Astorga which is a pueblo about and hour from Leon. It is very quaint, and very european. I loved it. Not to mention, they have an awesome castle, and cathedral in the center. I looks a little bit like something from Lord of the rings, or a Knight's tale.

MONDAY:

Well.. Let me start off with, my companion collects snowglobes. She has +100 at home, and she has a couple from every area that she has served in. She had looked and looked for a "Leon" snowglobe many a P'day, but to no avail. So after emailing, we went on the hunt, for a snowglobe. We went to 10 diffrent places, and no one had a "Leon" snowglobe she had dreamed of, but then as we were about to turn back, we spotted one more store in the distance. We got inside and asked th clerk if they had the snowglobe in question, and he responded in th affirmative. We weren't sure whether to cry or do karate moves, so we ended up doing both. We found it. After our exodus, we made the trek out to our frineds Norberto and Nalda, and had an english class with them, as well as a lesson of the common ground that we share, ie; families, jesus christ, faith with works, etc. It was really awesome.

TUESDAY:

Ether 12: "6 And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith."

I have been pondering, and thinking about this scripture a lot this week. I tried to put it in action, my faith I mean, and i definitley saw some miracles. Well for one, we vivsted our friends Horetensia, and had a great lesson with her, and then afterwards we did some carpeta (Area-book) work, and got a hold of a lot of people and set up some good appointments for this week and next week! THen we ran by our friend Maria Dolores's house. She is doing much better, and seems in high spirits. After that, while "contacting", (having akward conversations with people after you stopped them in the street, and try to get them to listen to you even though its real weird and uncomfortble for all parties involved) we were ble to find three people and get their numbers. THat is noramlly how many numbers we get in week here, so three in one day is pretty insane. Miracles... THen we had a really fun Noche de Jas. It's like a night for yound people to come and play games, and eat food with a lot of trans fat. IT's money. Well we definitely saw many miracles today, and everyday.

WEDNESDAY:

So we have district meetings on Wednesdays. We went to the meetng like normal, and our district leader ( Just a regular missionary like us) had asked us to prepare like a little tught on one of the attributs of Christ. Mine was la esperanza (hope). SO i shared mine and all was good, and then the other elder in our district got up, and siad that he had an object lesson, and that his topic was diligence. He got up, and grabbed a broom. He tried to balance the broom on his hand, and tried to balance it without looking. SO he is a really sweet elder, but honestly i  peed my pants laughing, watching him drop the broom. It wasn't like 2 or three times, but it was like 5 or 6.. His name is elder broadbent, but after that i accidenly calledd him elder broombent.  SO after that, we practiced knocking doors, which is not something we do here a lot because they have doormen, or they have a door on the outside that seperates us, from the apartements, but when the doorman is gone, or the portal door is open, we run in a knock as many doors as possible. Needless to say, we need some practice on not making people feel uncomfortable. SO we were practicing, and we were the people in the house and they were the missionaries, when all of the sudden the didrtict leader stops us, and asks, "Has this been a really akward district meeting, or is it just me. I just feel like i am really akward." It wasnt akward until he said that. It was just funny. Then elder broombent tore his pants. It was awesome. THen afterward we had this really awesome lesson set up with tis guy named yusu. He is from senegal, and we contacted him in th street, and called him and made an appointment with him, which never happens. THen we called our friend mosiah to come with us to the lesson so we would have a member present lesson. We got to his apartment, and are waiting for mosiah to arrive, when all of the sudden i realize that we need a another girl to come with us to the lesson. Well as missinaories we have certain rule for our protection, and one of those is if, since were girls, we are planning on meeting with a man, there needs to be another woman there, either a friend, or memeber, or his wife, or girlfriend or whatever.
So we played the blonde card, and called him and told him that we had this rule and would have to set something up a diffrent day. It truned out good though because he is still interested, and understood.

THURSDAY:

So today we had a great lesson with our friends Mariel, and her daughter Emily. We are working with her to help her to know what her testimony of the Book of Mormon really means. It's going well. Oh man, she gave us these like bran muffins that she made, and they were honestly the best thing that i had ever eaten. I'm not sure if i actually tasted it because it was gone in two bites. After that we went up by the cathedral, and talked to some people and passed by our friend Rosalva's house. SHe wasn't home, so on our way back we met this super sweet lady from Brazil named lidu. She told us that she worked at  a bakery, and showed us some of the cakes that she has made. Let me tell you, I cannot wait to meet with her, so I can eat some cake. We met with our Mission leader, Pedro, and had a meeting about the upcoming Noche de Halloween next friday. We planned everything, and I think that is going to be a success. WE planned on a lot of food, and a lot of candy, so there is really no way to mess tht up, right? I'm going to be a vampire, because I figure I am already really pale, and so I will jut have to buy the teeth, and a cape. 

FRIDAY:

!PUEBLO DAY!

SO today we went to astorga, and it was really Awesome. It is a little city of about 12,000 people, in the country side of Spain. SO if i was ever to move to spain, i would definilty live right outside of astorga, because especially now that it is fall, it is beautiful. We met a ton of really nice people, but we didnt find the success that we were lookinf for there. But we found a few intereste peple, an were able to get  refrence from some prents of thier kid, who lives in Leon, so that was way cool. Also, Astorga is know in spain for it's choclate. I can testify of that. Every street we walked was lined with choclate stores. We boght some right before we left, and it was amazing. I will never be ale to eat other kinds. Only astorga.  

SATURDAY:

Well we hd lots of plans, and things fail us but not big deal. So we pretty much passed by people, and contacted until 7 which is english class. Our frined Somiera came. SHe is a very practicing muslim, and is seriously the coolest person i know. She was telling us about mecca, and how that all worked, and also about how much our religions have in common. It's true. She speaks arabic, spanish, french, and english. I only speak english and redneck spanish, but i'm working on it. MY goal is to leanr spanish for now though. Afterwards, we went to a prak nearby, and waited to meet with our friend Khaled. He is from Sudan. He is super fly. We talked about hope, and how we can overcome all of our problems, and struggles through jesus christ. We felt the spirit really strongly. We invited im to come to the halloween party. 

SUNDAY:

Well we had church, which was really fun. After we had a realy great lesson with our member friend Rosbit, and gave her some animo (fire, or like confidence). THen we visited Maria dolores again, and she is still doing really good. She is amazing to me, because she still reads in the Book of Mormon every night, even though she is really old, and she can't see very well. She is awesome. My companion made some PB cookies that were delish. Then we met like 4 people in the street back to back that were just really awesome, and we were able to give out a book of mormon.

Thanks so much for the emails and the love that you send my way so often. Have a great week!

PICS FROM WEEK 2 TRANSFER 2 IN LEON:

Isn't she Beautiful!?

WEEK 2 OF TRANSFER 2 IN LEON:

 I Couldn't think of a clever name. Well this week has been an amazing adventure as always! This last week, I made some new goals for myself; One of which was to completely stop eating dairy. Dairy makes me sick anyways so you would think that it would be easy, but everything has dairy, and it just tastes so good. Well I have stayed strong so far, and I have felt a lot better. Another one of my goals was to Memorize, and ponder on Alma 26: 12, which is a verse of scripture found in the Book of Mormon. Ammon was an ancient prophet, and amazing missionary among the inhabitants of the ancient Americas. This scripture from his experience being a missionary:

        "12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever."
 

I would invite you to read this verse, and to think about what that phrase means, "for in his strength I can do all things". It's true. I know without a shadow of a doubt that the lord blesses us when we follow his commandments, and exercise our faith in him by acting correctly. If you have any cool thoughts, or actually any thoughts about this scripture, shoot me an email.

MONDAY: (LUNES)

Well after we emailed and stuff, there are a few Pass-by's that live close to the Chapel, so we decided to go by them. The first lady we wen by is named Leslie, and a miracle happened once again, and not only was she home, but she let us in, and gave us food! We were able to give her a pamphlet for the Plan of Salvation, and a Book of Mormon the last time we visited her, and this time we were able to teach her a little more about why we have the Book of Mormon, and also the Plan of salvation, which in reality is the plan that our loving heavenly father has given us to have abounding joy in this life, and eternal life, and the opportunity to live with our families forever in the life to come. Pretty great I think. She thought so too. So needless to say, we had a great lesson with her, but found out that she is leaving for Norway for like a month and won't be back till Halloween. Miracles, Miracles..

TUESDAY: (MARTES)

Well today I did laundry. I've been putting it off, but it finally culminated into me washing my clothes, and folding them. I feel better now. Oh, also today we found out that were getting a new phone! Our phone is the worst. It's obviously not a smart phone, but we should be able to make calls, and text people. I don't know whats wrong with it, but it drops service in the middle of conversations, and dies suddenly. It is a very important tool to have, but it isn't useful if it doesn't work. So we call a while back to see what we should do, and the office elder's told us to try all of these things, deleting contacts, deleting old messages, changing phones to see if it was the phone or the sim card, etc.. Well finally after all of that, the phone got worse. So we called and they told us that we're getting a new phone, and I am stoked. Well, we have finally overcome the gripe, (the cold). It took a lot of soup, and a lot of emergen-c, but we did it. Well we made some English class posters a while back, and now we are finally seeing the fruit's! For our class tonight, we taught a brazileno(Someone from Brazil). He was super cool. Well, when I got to Spain, my blow dryer broke. I know, 1st world problems, but I have just been drying it naturally, which for me is a struggle. So my companion and I each bought a blow dryer from this cheap little place that we walk by all of the time. It blows:)

WEDNESDAY: (MIERCOLES)

So, this morning we called our find Maria-Dolores, and she invited us to come over for lunch, and to teach her. So we went, and had some awesome, legit, Spanish food! She made Patatas fritas(fried potatoes) and espaguetis (spaghetti) , and murcia (Pork blood sausage), these little saltine crackers with cheese and pepper jelly, and pork chops. The Murcia which really is sausage made out of blood and onions, was actually really tasty. Well Maria asked if we wanted to try it, and i told her yes, ut then y companion was so angry with me, because she didn't want to try it. SO, hilarious. Well we tried it, and my comp choked it down, but it was actually really good. Though it did have a funky texture. Afterwards we were able to share the Plan of salvation with her as well! It went swimmingly. Afterwards the Elders called us, and told us that we were having an emergency meeting with the other elders in our district from ponferrada. We ran to the chapel, and the elders told us that president has asked us to be the Sister Training Leaders for the rest of the transfer, because there are none up here in the north. Really, it just means the we helped the Elders plan the Zone training for Thursday, and then the next zone training towards the end of the transfer. After that, we passed by some people, and had some failed appointments, and then we decided to pass by Norberto and naldas house. I had only met them in the street once, but i guess that the missionaries before me taught them a few times. They belong to the 7th day Adventists, which i had seen but never really learned about before. They are very faithful, and devout in their beliefs, which i respect. WE went to see them and talked to nalda, and had an English class with her! It was a blast, and then norberto came out, and we talked to them, and then i was able to have a guitar lesson with him because he had guitar and tried to learn, but gave up. Anyway it was cool to play, and to teach him. We made an appointment to come back for Monday.

THURSDAY: (JUEVES)

We woke up at 5:30a.m. and took a bus to Oviedo. We had zone training there. Ovieod is in very northern spain, and i guess it rains there like everyday, but it is really green and beautiful! We had our training on the baptismal interview questions, and also on how to become a Preach my gospel missionary. Preach my gospel is a manual to help us to become better and more effective missionaries. So for these types of training's, we also do some kind of Role Play, or practice (Practice teaching a lesson or something) but this time our role-play was to switch companions, and we had 15 minuts to hand out a Book of Mormon. There is a brand new missionary name hermana nielson, and we wet out together, and handed out my book of Mormon and almost hers in 15 minutes. IT was crazy. Then after that, we all changed into jeans and sweatshirts because its cold here, and in oveido, and then hiked up to the top of this mountain overlooking all of oveido, and a the top there was this giant stature of Jesus, like the one in San Paulo, Brazil only smaller. It was the coolest thing. Then we ate lunch up there, and had a spiritual thought. So, Hermana Maza has a bad knee, and her companion wanted to do the hike, so Hermana maza and I ended up being Companeras for a few hours which was cool. WE were able to talk to the taxi drivers were had, and also some guy who was up at the top of the mountain with us. IT was way cool. So because hermana maza and i took a taxi to the top, we got up there way before everyone else. We got to take some killer pictures, and videos, but about 5 minutes after everyone else showed up, It started sprinkling, then pouring rain. It was sooooooooooooooooo cold the whole time we were doing the spiritual thought and all that. CRazy, and then everyone else ran down, but we had to wait for a taxi, but it was fun. We got drenched. Then we finally got back to the chapel in oveido, and changed, and then Hermana Snyder, my companion and I took a train with the 4 elders from valladolid. It was way fun. We played a bunch of games, like bang. Then we got back to Leon and got three numbers and were able to hand out a Book of Mormon. Super amazing day!

FRIDAY: (VIERNES)

Today was yet again brimming with miracles! Well for starters we passed by an old investigator named Pamela, and we dropped her like the first week i got here just because she wasn't keeping any of her commitments. We passed by and talked with her, and shared a video and some scriptures, and it actually went really well, but we will see. Afterwards we had Medio-dia, and then we had a lesson with our friend named Maribel, and her daughter Emily! It went really good, because she said that as she has been reading, and praying about the Book of Mormon, she knows in her heart that it is true. That is what happens when you read and pray about the book of Mormon with a real interest to know o that if it is true, you will change you life and follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. It's like a math equation, if you add 2+2 it will always =4. The Book of Mormon is not different. If you exercise your faith by reading it, and praying about it with real intent, you will receive an answer of the truthfulness. Pretty amazing I think. So after our lesson with her, we invited her family to come to the Game night we were having. They came!!! Not only Maribel, and Emily, but also her older son alan!!! IT was seriously so fun, and there like about 25- 30 people there. I couldn't believe it. After that, the elders and us seperated our areas, and also split up the pueblos that we would be responsible for visiting. (Pueblo is like a little town, or city that is smaller that like 20,000 people). Our pueblos are astorga, benovente, bonyar, nd some other ones, that we are going to go to next week. I am so excited!

SATURDAY: (SABADO)

Today we did weekly planning, and made some chocolate chip cookies. They didn't look pretty, but they sure did taste good. Oh, I would love some new recipes because im tried of only eating sandwiches or cereal, so if you have some good, easy, and cheap recipes i would love that. Well the thing is that we didn't keep the cookies, but we gave them to our members, and so when we had  lesson with hortensia, we gave her some. WE had a bunch of lesson set, but they failed us so we got to walk around and contact up on the other side of Leon which was pretty. Then we had English class, and yet gain two new people came! They were both women doctors. I couldn't figure out a better way to say that. But they were seriously the coolest. And then we wen and had a lesson with our friend lesdy. IT was all in all a great day.

SUNDAY: (DOMINGO)

Well we asistired (attended) church today. The spirit was really strong during sacrament meeting. They talked about faith, obedience, and then the story of Noah and the ark. After church we went home, and i made fried chicken and mashed potatoes, but then after I had already boiled the potatoes, i realized that we didn't have a potato masher so i used a fork. IT was more like potato cubes. Still tasty. Afterwards we went out and passed by some people, and contacted, and then went to the Familia riveras for dinner. Really good day.

MONDAY:(LUNES)

Well we cleaned and grocery shopped, and wrote, and then after this were going to go up by the cathedral in the center of Leon to get  snow globe for my companion, because she collects them, and then to get some pastries, and maybe a few pictures.

Yep, This week has been really amazing and i truly appreciate all of your emails, and advice. Thanks. Love you!!!

...Continued.....

TUESDAY:   BIRTHDAY!!!

Well, my companion made me pancakes this morning! They had nutela, and were marvelous. Then I got ready, and we studied for a little while, and then headed for Hortesia's. We teach her every Tuesday morning, and she is just great. We shared a Mormon message with her about a mom, and all of the things that moms do everyday for their kids, their family, friends, etc. Man, it must be stressful having kids. It is stressful being a kids so i cant imagine how much more stressful and chaotic it is to be a Mother! Crazy. Afterwards went had some people to pass by, and after that we went to this Chinese restaurant for lunch. It wasn't very good, but it was better than a sandwich, which is what we had at home. After that, we have been trying to meet with this girl named liselot, and we finally set an appointment up with her, and brought along our member friend named Lucy and the we walk to the other side of Leon, and she wasn't home. I felt really bad for Lucy, bless her heart. But then like an hour later we saw liselt and her aunt, and cousin walking in the street so we ran over, and set up an appointment to meet with all of them. Maybe that will work. Then we had English class, and Youth night (Noche De Jas). We had a really good turn out, and we played a card game. 

WEDNESDAY:

We had district meeting today, and it was really good. I learned a lot. Our district leader asked us to teach the plan of salvation to our companions without mentioning Jesus Christ, or his atonement for us. Impossible to do. Well teaching it this way is definitely a lot shorter, but it doesn't make any sense. It sounds like something is missing. Everything the gospel is connected. God restored his church, and gospel on the earth again so that we could have this plan of salvation, and called a prophet who has the authority of god to perform these saving ordinances the we must do in order to use the plan. We have the Book of Mormon because it contains the fullness or complete Plan of Salvation that god has given us to have peace in this life, and obtain Eternal life in the life to come. It's a road map for what we need to do. To me, 2 Nephi 2: 22-26 sums it up just about perfect.

22 And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained forever, and had no end.

23 And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin.

24 But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things.

25 Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.

26 And the Messiah cometh in the fulness of time, that he may redeem the children of men from the fall. And because that they are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon, save it be by the punishment of the law at the great and last day, according to the commandments which God hath given.

I can't say it any better than that. Oh well also we found out today that we are getting the "Area book planner app", and also the the "Area book MAp".  SO as of now we have paper planners, or agendas, and we have a carpeta, which is the records of every person the we have taught, and th the misssinaries have tauhgt before us, and thier names, and numbers, and addresses, etc. So with these apps we will have all of this information in our tablets, and our planners and appointments and notes and everything will be on our tablets. It's Awesome!!! It will make it so much more efficent and accurate! I am so excited.

THURSDAY:

Today was just money. SO we have a lot of less active members here. We were going through our branch list, trying to get in contact with some of these less active members and were able to set appointments up with three, tow of which neither me of my companion had met, or heard of. TO other one is named Rosalva, and she is awesome, but the missionaries had lot contact with her right after i got her because apparently she changed her number.  SO we met rosalva and she took us to her lawyer, and her landlords office, and then we went to the capilla. She walked in and kissed every picture of Jesus in the whole church building. It was cute, she really loves the savior, and i want to be more like her. We had a great lesson with her, and will meet with her again this coming week. Then we had medio-dia, and we passed by some people and then went to the center of Leon, and waited to meet this lady named Raquel! We waited for a little while at this little park thing, and then her and hr daughter showed up. I don know how they found us. It's nt like we stand out as white, blonde, green eyed, american missionaries or anything. Needless to say, people say hello, instead of hola when they meet us. Raquel is way sweet, and is a little older, and her daughter was super cute, and is like 24. Her daughters not a members but we made some plans to meet with her sometime soon. We walked through Leon, and that were having this Medieval Festival starting Thursdays until Sunday, and so they wanted to go to that, and so we walked with them and got to know them. That Festival was crazy cool! I saw a whole pig being roasted, and too many bag pipes to count.  After that we had a lunch with a member named Jesus, and hi wife. The food was to die for. Then after that we met with lesdy, and her family and had some amazing Peruvian food. IT was crazy being fed twice in one day!

FRIDAY:

We went up to Trobajo del camino today, which is a pueblo right outside of Leon, to meet with a Less active member named Josefa. It was really pretty, and we took a us which was cool. Josefa was sooooo sweet, and were going to start meeting iht her every Friday! Then we went and passed by Maria- Dolores, and she is having a hard time. SHe is such a great person, and i love her ton. We had a really good lesson with her about how really, through our savior, our burdens can be lifted, and we can be happy even in ur afflictions, and it is sooo true. I love seeing her. Then we had Branch night, and that was really fun. We taught, and then we layed this hand slapping, game with a coin. I dont know, but it was fun. 

SATURDAY:

Well i got really sick today. MY companion had a cold for a few days, and then she gave it to me, and boy was it rough. I took some Benadryl, like my dad always taught me, and that helped. WE had a good day, and we pretty much just talked to people in the street all day, which was fine because Leon is pretty and the people that we met were really great. We went to English class, and there is this one super cute lady who comes every week, sometimes with her super cute little daughter, twice a week, who speaks amazing english. Better than i do anyway, and it was just really fun to talk to her, and she read us this story that she wrote, and it was amazing! Really incredible, and i hope that one day my spanish can be as good as her english. 

SUNDAY:

Well today We went to church which was really great. We met this Australian couple who were doing the camino de santiago, and they had some great accents. Afterward, we went and saw Maria dolores gain,and she is doing better.  After that we met this young couple named Joel and lorena. THey own a little kiosk store that basically sells candy, and bread to all of the old Spaniards, and they are sooooo cl. The hermanas before us found them, and we try to pass by every now and again. We talked a little about the book of Mormon with them, and that was fun. I am really having a great time here. Leon is getting colder now, but it has been abnormally hot here for October. but it starting to get a lot colder.

SO this week i have been studying about faith, and why we need prophets. These are the scriptures i found, and used in lessons with people this week:

Faith:

Alma 32: 21, 27-28
Matthew 17: 20
Acts 15: 8-9
Ephesians 2:8
James 2: 14-26
Hebrews 11:1

Prophets:

Amos 3: 7
Isaiah 28: 9-10
EPhesians 3: 3-5
D&C 1: 37-38
EPhesians 4:5

Thank you so much for all of the onderful emails, an sweet words of advice, i need it. I hope that everybody has a great week! 

Week 7 in Leon Spain


Hey so, about the package you all sent. So I got a call on Friday that my package from y'all got stopped in customs,  in correos (which is like the USPS for Spain). So the office elders call you when this happens as soon as they find out because there is a deadline of 10 days from the time they stop it until the time that they return it to the sender. The elders said that i had to get in contact with them before Sunday in order to have it not sent back to you guys. So correos didn't send the noticiario that it got stopped until Friday,  so i only had until Sunday to respond. So i got a call Friday afternoon,  and they told us that they emailed me a copy of the form that you have to fill out like everything that the package has,  and then email it back. They told us also that you can call, but the form had the number that i had to call.  So we got to the capilla,  because we have ward night on Fridays,  and tried to download the email, but the WiFi was broken. The elders tied to fix it but it didn't work.  So we couldn't download it or anything, and it was late so we couldn't call either.  So Saturday,  during medio día we team by the capilla,  and the WiFi was working so we downloaded the email,  and there was no number.  It was just like a form for your name,  and number,  andspace to put the contents of the package,  and if it contained any medicine or anything.  Do then we called the elders back and ask them,  and they accidently sent the front of the form, and not the back with the information that i needed. So they sent it,  and I called the number and the apparently close for Saturday and sunday,  and their office hours ate from like 9 to 5 during the week. So them I'm like,  well we have a computer in the family history center that we can use for things like this,  so we went in there and i tried to fill the dorm out,  and my companion and I could not figured out how to do it, and didn't know what this things that they were asking for were.  So then we printed out the form, and filed it out and tried to scan it to them,  but them but you cannot do it that way,  you have to fill it out online,  or you can send it but mail. So we gave up and at this point i can't call, or email them because there are specific numbers that you have to sl it out that we didn't know what they mean.  So i was pretty frustrated.  So they i called this morning to try to talk to them hopefully before they sent it back,  but we couldn't understand the lady,  and she couldn't understand us,  then she told us to just go online and do it,  but we couldn't,  but hopefully i can figure it out someone today, but most likely it will be sent back, which really sticks because I know that toy guys spent a lot of money sending it. It is just really frustrating because even if I was or am able to get it after is stopped by customs,  I will have to pay anywhere from 20 to 100 euros depending on how big it is when they deliver it.  It's just stupid how difficult it is to send packages, so if it ends up getting sent back, honestly as much as it breaks my heart, it's not worth it to send it again, because for sure it will get stopped unless it's like a big envelope or something. But boxes always get stopped because we're Americans so they automatically stop anything from America because they know that we will pay to get it. I'm really sorry, and I'm pretty sad about it. I mean I know it's just stuff but it's from home and that means a lot, because it is diffrent here than college, because the only person I have to talk to is my companion, because we're super isolated up here. I mean it's fine e, but it would be nice to get something from home. But honestly if you ever want to send me something, just send it using Amazon or something because it's almost not worth it to send it from  home. Oh spain... but it you do want to send this package again, maybe send a few big envelopes instead of a box for this stuff, because and envelope has a much better chance of not getting stopped than a box does. Also here are the guidelines for sending stuff the the mission gave use. 

Okay so this week has been a great one. Definitely with some up's and down's, but mostly up's. Spain is really pretty, and the people, when you can talk to them are generally very nice. This week something I have noticed yet again is that spain is really a melting pot, (not like fondue). THis week we have met people from coulumbia, guatmela, equador, bulgaria, romania, germany, china, japan, serbia, pakistan, and then as always, the dominican republic. It's crazy to me that i get the oppourtunity to meet some many diffrent kinds of people, from diffrent bakgrounds and places. It's pretty awesome!

MONDAY:

Okay so on Monday after i emailed and played some ping-pong, we walked around and talked to a few people in th street but there we only met one lady who seemed interested in meeting with us, which was a miracle in and of itself. So, as I have said before, the people here really don't like to be tied down, and loath making appointments, so we end up passing by a lot, and calling a lot because no one will make a sure appointment. SOmetimes we get lucky, and they are home. Someties we get lucky and if they're home, and the stars are prefectly aligned, and the moon is waning, then maybe they will let us in. Monday night just happened to be one of those PERFECTLY ALIGNED nights. We have been passing by this lady named Leslie. I didn't know her but my compnaion had met her once. Her daugthers are friends wiht one of the young men in our ward named Jesus. Most of the time when we "Timbre", (it's like ringing a doorbell but on the outside of the building) her daugther gabby answers, but this time we caught her at home finally, and it was really great lesson. We were able to share about the Book of Mormon, and how it can truly bless, and change her life. It was way fun. Oh, they had this dog named cookie, that im pretty sue was a coyote, but her was playing wiht us the whole time we were trying to teach this lesson. He was jumping all of my companion, and jut messing with her, and then, right before we left she got hives, not too bad, but she was itchy all over, and she had to take some benadryl when we got home becuase she coulden't stop sneezing.

TUESDAY:   BIRTHDAY!!!

Week 6 in Leon

No pictures Boo!

Well hello!!!!

So this week has definitely had it's ups and downs, but mostly ups.
But, Even when thing don't go the way you planned, that does not mean that they don't go the way god planned. He knows us individually, and if we will follow his commandments, and prompting of his holy spirit, we will be just where he wants us to be.  (Mosiah 2: 41)

MONDAY:

Well Monday was pretty normal. It was Elder Priest's last P-day, and so to celebrate with him before he goes home (Dies) we went to a Chinese buffet, which was delicious! They had paella which is tasty, but is a little out of place at  a Chinese Buffet. Oh man, they ha these little fried balls, that essentially were fried nutella! Money. Needless to say, afterwards my companion and I were sick, and dying. So Leon is not very big city, but it is a city, bigger than Spring, Texas. When I looked on google maps, it sai that spring has about 60,000 people, and Leon has about 160,000. So this Chinese restaurant was about an hour walk one way from the chapel, but it was worth getting sick. SO then we went back, and played Ping-Pong. I'm not very good, yet. Then we had this New Missionary Training with President and Hermana Pack. It was really great, we just skyped in, but then about 1/2 way through, someone timbered. (to timber is when the ring the little buzzer thing, kind of like a door bell outside) But we were in the chapel. SO then we walk out to answer the door, and there is this random guy that I have never seen before, but my companion knows. SO at this point, I dont have a clue what is happening, or who this guy is. SO then we go into a room, and then he was talking about his friend, and how he was really bad, and how he knows one of our members, and how he wanted us to pray with him for his friends. So then we prayed with him, and we all kneeled down and held hands and prayed with him. It threw me off a little bit, but I think it made him feel a little better. So after that he left. Then after that, we had to run to an appointment, and so i didnt find out who that was, or what had happened, until we got back to piso. The lord is teaching me patience. But, finally I found out that I guess MY companion a transfer before I got here went and taught him and his friend, and it was good, but then after his friend later screamed and like attacked the hermanas, and went and tried to report us to the elders, it was weird. Anyway, needless to say my companion was a little scared when the other guy showed up, but he was really nice, and mellow. But yeah, that was kind of crazy.

TUESDAY:

Well today was just an awesome day! We ran over to hortensias, and I do mean ran. We share a video about the importance of being a other and that they are example for their kids, and it just made me think of my good parents and all of the amazing mothers, grandmothers, great grandmothers, and futures mothers that I know, and I was just really grateful for them and their examples for me. Well the lesson went really good, and I think that it really hit her. Then we went back for lunch, and after that we had a lesson with this lady that we contacted in the street about 2 weeks ago. Her name is Liselot. She is 25, and has 4 KIDS! She is from the Dominican Republic, but came her to work, which i dont really understand because everyone here is looking for work because sain is in and unemployment crisis right now. Anyway it went pretty good, and we were able to make an appointment to come back, so that was cool. Then we had English class, and Youth night.

WEDNESDAY:

Well we had District meeting today, and it was really good, and afterward we played Crazy uno yet again, and this time I cleaned up. It's a good thing that we dont bet, but if we did, i could have payed for a semester of college or a used car. SO afterward was a long day. Everything failed us, and we ended up walking, and contacting all day, but at about 9, our mission leader Pedro gave us a call and invited us over. We went and had an English class with them, and the gave us the little pizzas that  were heavenly! IT was way fun to not talk in Spanish for an hour, but also nice to hear how it must sound when I try to speak to them is Spanish. But after we left them, we headed back to the piso, and I fell asleep right after my head hit the pillow. I thought I slept good before the mission, but now, it takes me like 3 minutes to fall asleep. Just ask my companion.

THURSDAY:

SO today we had weekly planning, and I was praying, and my companion totally fell asleep for a good 15 minutes, and then she woke up, and was like, "that was a long prayer". Really she was just asleep the whole time. Kind of funny, i thought. SO afterwards we passed by our friends Maribel, and her family. She is soooooooooooooooooo Sweet, and is always happy to have us if she is busy, and i guess that the Hermanas have been meeting with her for about 1 years now, but when we got here she kind of stopped progressing in the testimony. But today we had a lesson with her, and i think we ignited that fire with her again, and i have faith that she will be baptized soon, hopefully before I leave Leon.  After her, we ended up contacting because all of our plans fell thru. But we met so great people in the street. For dinner, we got McDonald is celebration of our lesson with Maribel. McDonalds here is very different from McDonalds in the states, but i got the chicken sandwich, and it was pretty tasty. Reminded me of college when we would go to MccyD's for some fries, and a coke and just talk... Trunky!!!   But no it was good, and made me think of home, and how much better Whataburger is.. 

FRIDAY:

Good news.. I have revived information from a very credible source that there Is a Taco Bell in Madrid.. Elder Preist told me, and her said that it is in the barrio that my MTC companion is serving in.. Jealous. Well that was the highlight of the day by far. Well first we went by and visited our Friend Maria Dolores, and talked to her. She is old, and her health is not so good. She is just having a hard time, and her kids dont really spend any time with her, and they both live in Leon so I think thats kind of lame. It's just hard to see her hurt so much, because I really do love her. But I know that our savior loves hr more that I ever could, and that he is there to lift her burdens, and to help her feel comfort, and that is exactly what I told her. SO i was a little depressed with that, but then after that our Progressing investigator called us and told us that basically he moved out of his piso, that is like shared with a bunch of other people to find one that is a better place for him, and that he has been looking for a piso, and he cant find one, so he doesn't have a place to live, so he bought a bus ticket, and is moving to madrid, today. He was really down about the whole thing, but he said he prayed about it, and said that he feels like that is what he should do. I'm still a little sad about it just because he is ready to be baptized, but when he finds  place in Madrid we will snd missionaries to him, and when one of us go back to Madrid, we will find him and teach him, and baptize him. SO even thought that is want the lord wants for him, it was still sad for us. But the lord knows best, as always. But today is elder preits last day, and so we had a rally fun Ward night, and had lots of good food.

SATURDAY:

Well we found out that Hermana Snyder for sure is staying this transfer, but will most certainly leave next transfer. So that was good news. SO after studies and stuff, we just felt like we should go up to Teresa, so we headed up that way and we stopped this lady, from equador and were talking with her, and it turned out that her mother, sister, and niece are all members in Equador, and the her niece is serving a mission right now in Bolivia! SO we were really excited about meeting her, and i pretty sure that she was the reason that we went up to Teresas, because she lives in peublo far away, and we literally didnt meet anyone else there or back who wold stop for us, and teresa wasn't home. SO then we had a great lesson with Paula, and now she is praying about October 23rd for her baptism date. SO she is totally getting baptized this transfer, (Ojala que) Hopefully. Things are really rolling her! Oh also we had another lesson with our new friend Liselot, and it was a little weird, but our friend Lucy came with us to the lesson. When we were praying, she was like saying her own prayer out loud. IT threw me off, and i opened my eye and looked and my companion was just dying, and so it took all of the will power I had to not laugh. But our lesson was okay with her and were supposed to meet with her again this coming week.

SUNDAY:

Well here the way that conference works it that we watch it all on Sunday. SO we watched the womens conference, then Saturday morning, an evening, and then the first session on Sunday was live here at about 6pm, so if y'all watched it live, then we were watching it together! Kind of cool. We are going to watch the Sunday afternoon session on Monday. SO we were in the chapel all day long, and we didnt leave until 9;00 and then we had a lesson, and then we went home. There were so many talks that talked to me:) Well i had some questions about faith and other things tht were all answered with in the first session of conference, in like the first 3 talks. I loved president Uchtdorfs talk, and also the words of president Eyring. It was amazing, and I learned so much, especially about the plan of redemption, and the prayer of faith. 

MONDAY:

Well today is P-day, and were just hanging out. We went shopping for groceries, and cleaned, and I took a nap, Made some guacamole, and now were just writing. Then after this we have to go get some makeup for my companion, and get her hair cut. I need  one too, but i'm to scared to take that risk. 

Well all in all a great week in Leon, and soon to be a great transfer!

Well I wanted to leave you with  few scriptures about th great plan of Redemption, and happiness that our gracious heavenly father has given us through his son Jesus Christ.

Premortal life: Alma 13:3
Creation: 1 Nephi 17: 36
Adam & Eve + THe fall: 2 Nephi 2: 25-27
Life of Earth: Alma 34: 32
Atonement: Alma 7: 11-12 & 2 Nephi 2: 6-7
Spirit World: Alma 40: 11-12
Ressurection: Alma 40: 13 & Alma 11: 42-45
Judgement: ALma 11: 44
Heaven, and the 3 degrees of glory: D&C 76: 70-end

All of these scriptures are found in the Book of mormon, which is why we need the book of mormon, because not only is it another testament of our savior Jesus Christ, but also it contains the fullness of the Plan of salvation, which is the plan god has made for us to return to live with him with our families, forever.