Want to guess who I shook hands with?!

So you know... Elder Ballard came and spoke to us. As in Elder Ballard from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles... and I shook his hand. It was a pretty great moment in my life.  So we had to be in Pavones at 7:30 am... so we woke up bright and early, (and when I say bright I really mean it was pitch black outside :)) and got to the train station at like 6:00 am-- I was fully expecting it to be deserted that early on a Saturday morning... but we get there and every single teenager in Spain is there... we´re super confused wondering why they are up so early.  It didn´t take long to realize how drunk they all were and we put it together that they were just coming home from a long night of partying. haha  I have never felt so out of place.  It is amazing the perspective we have.  We were going to go hear from an Apostle of the Lord.  We know what will really make us happy.  We know why we are here and where we are going.  This gospel is amazing!

Want to know what else is amazing?! ELDER BALLARD!! Ohhh he is just the greatest!!! It was amazing to hear from him, to feel his spirit, and to know that he is an Apostle of the Lord. He spoke to us about D & C 11... how our desire to do this work is directly proportional to our success. How even though there are sometimes challenges and difficulties, we do everything we do because we love the Savior. Then he just told about his week, how they had been to London, Paris, Spain and was going to Rome all in one weekend.. how he is turning 85 next week and how he is tired. He told us that sometimes he wonders why someone of his age is running around ´like a young boy´... then he was quiet for a few minutes and said, ´it is because I know what happened in Gethsemane´  He then bore the most powerful testimony of the Savior and His love for us and his love for the Savior.  He told us that anytime we feel discouraged, to look at a picture of the Savior, to ponder the love He has for us and the sacrifice he made for us... and then to turn outward and share that love with someone else.  Incredible!  Also he took the time to shake all of the missionaries hands! What a great guy!

So this week we ate at a members house like every single day... that is slightly unheard of!! :) and haha none of it was Spanish! :)  Want to hear which countries food I ate?   Well let me tell you... Monday we ate Mexican, Tuesday we ate Equadorian,  Wed we ate Peruvian, Thursday we ate Honduran and Friday we ate Peruvian... hmmmmm  It was so good!  It was super nice for everyone to be so generous! Cesar had us over for mediodia... and it was just hilarious.  He just pulled a bow and arrow out of nowhere... and so we played dress up with all his sweet Peruvian paraphenalia.  

We have a new investigator as of this week! Her name is Pamala... her mom is a member and less active, so we were visiting her and met Pamala. So she just barely had a baby- like 2 months ago and he is PRECIOUS!! :) They are so cute and humble and so receptive to hearing this message! She loves how family centered the gospel is and she loved hearing about the Restoration and the Priestood and she is so full of the spirit!  Also miraculously her baby sleeps through our whole lessons... this is when you know God wants to you listen.

We were talking to this woman (Rosa) on a bench earlier this week and she said she was interested in coming to church... long story short we got her number, called her to set something up and reminded her of church- and she came!!  We haven´t even met with her, and she lives in Getafe, which is far from the chapel!   She is so cute and I can´t even wait to meet with her!

This young woman in our ward was showing me her back to school supplies... oh my goodness gracious...I love school so much and may or may not be going through withdrawals at not starting school.... haha but it was so fun to be excited about her new stuff!

Also... we called a member and turns out our number is the same number that her mom had when she was alive...  so she answers the phone thinking we were her dead mother...hahaha crazy!

Lots of cool experiences this week- we met with this member and shared a message about family history work. She was kind of quiet the whole time and then at the end she is just smiling and said ´thank you, I was thinking about that a few nights ago... I got the strongest urge that I needed to start, but I didn´t know where to begin´ (or something to that effect). Then she thanked us for being angels in her home! :) soooo cute!!

Love it!  Well got to go!  Have a great week!

Love you much,
Hermana Fowers