6-30-14

I absolutely LOVE Gijón!!!!  SO MUCH!  And my companion is an incredible missionary!  She seriously also reminds me of our cousin Reta Ray!  She is so funny and cool!  I have been loving it here with her.  She is also SO dilligent and organized and I have learned so much from her just within this week.  I LOVE her!  She´s from Huntsville Utah and went to BYU Idaho before coming on a mission. She is such a bold missionary and we have been working really well together.  I am so grateful to be learning from her.  It´s also so nice to be in a new area where you are not seen as the new missionary who doesn´t know Spanish haha!  Don´t get me wrong I´m still learning Spanish, but it´s great to be in a new area with new people and to have a fresh start with Spanish especially :)

This morning we went to "the green patch"....well, we´re not sure if that´s what it really is called but that´s what we call it :)  It was gorgeous!  It´s the very north tip of Spain!  Cool, huh?  We went out for pizza with some of the ward members here which was really fun, and then walked along the coast pretty much.  The other Elders in our area are Elders Nielsen and Lee.  They are a hoot.......one of them reminds me of J-Red....he´s like his twin! 

There is a small branch, or rama, here which is different than Torrejón but I really like it.  It really is amazing to see the strength of the members.  The church is really small here and so the active members have such strong testimonies of the Gospel.  One member here who I´ve gotten to know is Carmelo.  He´s from Venezuela and his wife works at a fancy restaurant here.  He and the ward mission leader took us out to lunch last week.  And my old ward mission leader, David Zamorra, actually served here in Gijón and told me that Carmelo was cool.  It´s true, he is super cool!  We also ate with them the other day at his house with a lady who was just confirmed on Sunday to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, named Kenia.  We ate BLOOD SAUSAGE!  My first time!  It actually wasn´t as bad as I thought it was going to be....it´s pretty much just blood from a cow, cooked and molded into the shape of sausage.  Que asco!  

Anyway....so about the people here....Kenia is such a sweet lady....she´s from Honduras!  My second day here we had a lesson with her and her daughter, Fabiola who is 6 years old and SOOO adorable!  Kenia was baptized a year ago, but for some reason never got confirmed....don´t know how that happened....but anyway, we´ve been meeting with them every day since I got here and she was just confirmed on Sunday.  We were so happy for her!

Also....Nelly!  She sent you the picture of us!!!!  Haha awesome!  She is one of our investigators and is getting baptized this Saturday!  She is from Argentina and is such a sweet lady.  She definitely LOVES to talk :)  But she is an amazing person and has been through so much in her life.  It´s so hard to explain the lives of these people, but they´ve been through a LOT, and I know that Heavenly Father has been preparing them to listen to and accept the Gospel.  I feel very privileged to be teaching them and introducing the Gospel to them.

I know if anything (and this is going to sound extremely selfish) but I know that if anything, being on a mission, learning HOW to teach and then teaching the Gospel has strengthened my testimony of the Gospel so much personally, and I feel SOO lucky to be doing this and to be learning what I´m learning.  We teach the same things all day, every day, but literally every time I teach or share what I know, my testimony of the thing that I am sharing is strengthened.  I am reminded of the most basic and most important things every day and I feel the Spirit touch my heart in different ways throughout lessons and contacts.  It is overwhelming to feel of Heavenly Father´s love for me.  I know that Heavenly Father just wants to bless us.  I know that when we share the Gospel, and take opportunities to share our testimonies, even if we don´t know exactly what we´re going to say, I know that the Spirit directs our thoughts and guides our words, as full time missionaries and as member missionaries.  I am so grateful to be here and to be learning all that I am learning every day. 

I have to go, but have the best week ever at the ranch!!!!!!!!!!  Aubs, Dev and Mal....I got your emails....thank you for writing me.......also Mom, Dad and Grandpa!  Thank you for writing me, I wasn´t able to write any of you back personally this week, but I love you all dearly :)  Have a BLAST at the Ranch and at the parade this year!  And Happy 4th of July!!!!!!!!!!!!  I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!