Pinkie Promesas

I am pleased to inform you that as of yesterday Las Palmas is now a ward! :) Wooohoo!! So The Canary Islands became a stake in September and it was announced that Las Palmas would become a ward.  It became official yesterday in church when they called the Bishopric!!! :)  It was a really cool meeting, all the members were so happy. Marta (we include her a lot in lessons) leaned over to me and told me that they have been a branch for forty years and they have been praying and waiting for this day for a long time!! History is being made here in Las Palmas. :)

I am also pleased to inform you that Kennedy (from Leganés) was baptized last week! :) :) :) Oh I am sooo happy!!! When I found out I was leaving we went and visited him and it was sooooo sad to leave! He kept saying ´This is really painful... this hurts my heart.´ Oh it was terrible!  You just build so many friendships with these people and I´m so happy for the opportunity to have these experiences and build relationships with people as they build relationships with God.

So one cool experience this week was with "O"! So he is one of our investigators and when I first got here he wasn´t super interested in the gospel... just in the English classes we teach. So this week we were having a lesson and it wasn´t going super well and he wasn´t really receptive, but then we started talking about the Book of Mormon and bearing testimony of how we came to know it was true and the blessings we have in our lives because of that knowledge. During that lesson the spirit was so powerful. It was one of those experiences everyone talks about where the words just came and you knew what to say. Let me clear about something... haha I still struggle with Spanish and when I say that I knew what to say doesn´t mean that it was eloquent.  It doesn´t mean that it was super profound, but it was what needed to be said to bring the spirit into that lesson. It was amazing to see the change in "O" after that lesson. He had a desire to know, he had a desire to learn. He is now coming closer to Christ and it is because of the power of the spirit and the Book of Mormon. The Lord can change hearts and I witnessed that this week!

So we visited an elderly member this week that was basically deaf...so we knock on the door, she answers, and we start explaining who we are... and she points to her ear signalling that she can´t hear us... so then I yell in her ear: ´somos misionaras de la Iglesia de Jesu Cristo de los santos de los últimos dias´ ... and she just did the cutest thing. She broke into a huge smile, said ´Mormones´ and grabbed my hand and pulled me into her house!! :)  It was super cute and we had a visit with her that was much needed... mainly consisted of her talking and us nodding and smiling because she couldn´t hear us... haha but after 4 months of Spanish... I´m REALLY good at smiling and nodding :)

They had daylight savings here yesterday... so we gained an hour of sleep !!! WOOOHOOO!!! Except I woke up by myself at the original time... haha I was sooo mad.. but then I got over it because I got another hour of sleep... and I did the same thing again today... just too used to the schedule I guess :)

Fun fact... we can´t drink the water here... so we have to buy big jugs of water to drink! :)

So sometimes I say ´yummm´ a lot... and this week I was wondering if there was a Spanish equivalent other than saying like ´this is so good´ (sometime you just need to say yummm) well... I asked this week.. and apparently when I say ´yum´ the members think I am saying ´ham´... so haha maybe I should stop saying that.

Spanglish at it´s finest: I made a ´pinkie promise´ with a little girl this week... she renamed it ´pinkie promesa¨ yeah... making a difference in Spain!

Well that is what I have to report for this week!

I hope you all have a fabulous Halloween and celebrate it in the good old American way. :) Daniel have a fantastic birthday! I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU ARE TURNING 12!!! :) Studly boy

OK I love you all!!! :)

Hermana Fowers

I AM ON THE CANARY ISLANDS!!!!!!

Well I am currently on island. This morning I could see my breath in Madrid... and now... well you know how island temperature is ;)

This week was legit... let me see if I can compose my thoughts... hmmmm   

CESAR WAS BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!! That was such a miracle!!! He has been investigating since May... I've been teaching him ever since I got there. He had soooo many questions and sometimes it was a struggle to help him realize the importance of feeling the spirit rather than knowing EVERYTHING! ...but he really has changed and it is incredible to see how his life is now. :) Ahh he is a member of this church!!!!! Woohoooo!!!!

Okokok wellll... he really was like a man of many outfits that day.  He arrived in what we thought he brought to be baptized in... but they were beige pants and his white shirt had colored embroidery on it... haha and we didn't have anything his size.  So we were stressing out, turns out he just thinks he is super funny and had an all white outfit in his bag all along... haha typical.  That basically describes our relationship with him, so then he got all dressed in white and it was a beautiful sight!!!!!!! HEY CESAR GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!

So the baptism was awesome... and so we're waiting in the chapel for him to come out and he emerges in a full blown suit!!!!! haha  Where did that come from!?!  He looked sooo nice and clean and when he got up and bore his testimony he looked like a General Authority!! :) It was the best feeling in the world to hear him bear his testimony and bring the spirit into the room!! I got a shout out in his testimony.  I'm pretty proud of that.

Then after the ward had an activity for the 12 of October!!!  So here it is a holiday to celebrate all the different countries- so all the different countries from the ward represented by bringing food and doing a dance-song/dance from their country... it was quite the party!!! :)  Cesar went home and came back in a complete Peruvian outfit... haha outfit number 4 for the day! :)  We brought rice krispies to represent the USA... haha...hey it was easy! This party was sooo legit. 

I was just relishing in all the food and music and celebration... and then we got a call from the District Leader telling me that I'm GOING TO LAS PALMAS!!! Soooooo it took me a second to realize that that is on the Canary Islands...(70 miles off the northwest coast of Africa) so in my mind I'm freaking out 'WAIT I'M GOING TO THE ISLANDS?' and then Hermana Zitting starts freaking out 'THAT IS MY AREA!!!!'  (where she had served before becoming Megan's trainer) haha and it was like a complete hour of freaking out. :):):):):):):):) Woooohoooo

So I could only take one suitcase... so I spent a lot of time packing- weighing, realizing it was way overweight... then unpacking, repacking, weighing etc...quite the experience!!!  Hna Zitting, Hna Christian and I just were living up our last moments together!  Love them!!!  Well then this morning I got on an airplane and flew to the Canary Islands!!! :)  The Buhlers (the Senior Couple she has heard so much about) picked us up... gave us chocolate chip cookies and homemade enchiladas.... and I am on as island!!

Well I am sooo excited to get to know all these people that I have heard so much about from Hna Zitting!!!  This is going to be such a great experience and I couldn't be more excited!!!!

I LOVE YOU ALLLL!!!!!!!

Muah, Hugs and Kisses

Conferencia General

Well how about conference?! :) Pretty great, no?!  Well let me tell you how Conference happens here in Spain.Basically it is a big party on Temple Square! On Saturday we watched the Relief Society Session at 4... and then at 6 they showed the live session of Saturday morning!!! So I watched it at the same time as you!! Just without the pjs... the scones... and the orange julius...

After two sessions of conference I decided I needed to do something to keep the General Conference tradition going... so I dug out the cookbook I brought and found a recipe for pancakes and syrup. :)  I don´t think I have ever been more pleased with myself as I did the moment I found those recipes! :) yay for being prepared!  So Sunday morning we had a nice General Conference breakfast of pancakes and hot chocolate! woohoo! 

Then we were ready to go to the temple at 2 for the Saturday afternoon session... and 6 for the Sunday morning session.  Due to the fact that the Sunday afternoon session was shown from 10 pm-12 am... we didn´t watch that one... haha  But everyone who lives around Madrid just comes and camps out at Temple Square all day :) There is food, people walking around the temple, and just relishing in the spirit of it all!!  Sooo great!

I was definitely uplifted with all the talks that we heard!! ohhhh it was sooooooo goood to listen in English! I don´t think I will ever take that for granted ever again... I didn´t even zone out at all because I was just so amazed that I could understand everything! :) I agree with President Monson: super uplifting sessions!!!!! :)  It was cool to see our investigators come and feel of the spirit and see what the gospel can offer them!!! Also to listen and apply the talks not only to myself but to the people we are teaching was also a really cool experience.
 

Well, want to hear a funny experience!?

So... we are teaching this lady... she is a street contact and was really interested. So we had Lesson 1 (Restoration) with her last week.  It went really well... but she had a lot of questions. Great!  So we come back and teach lesson 2 and invite her to be baptized. She tells us that she has already been baptized. So we start explaining how it is different than the Catholic church blah blah blah...  ´No I was baptized in your church´... I opened my mouth to say something... and then I comprehended what she said...´wait what?!´ haha 

Apparently she was baptized in her country like 30 years ago and failed to mention that when 1. we met her on the street and 2. we had our first lesson and 3. invited her to be baptized the first time.... haha she didn´t even know anything about the Book of Mormon or Joseph Smith...(she´s the one who was teaching her daughter that God is like a spirit)  We were super confused!  I guess 30 years is a lot longer than it appears... :) So now we are working with her to get back to church and working with her 8 yr old daughter.  Never thought that would ever happen...

When we were coming back from conference Hermana Christian came up from behind me, covered my eyes, and ´helped me´on to the escalators... haha one of the scariest moments of my life...´it´s like walking with faith...´ ´but I don´t trust you´

We ate Armenian food again this week! super good... but I´m pretty sure it is entertainment in her house to see how much we can possibly fit in our stomachs. haha They give us sooooo much food and see how much we can eat... and then give us more. This week was Kebabs, potatoes, curry-cauliflower, pizza, and spaghetti...

If everything goes well this week we should have 2 baptisms this week!!  Woohoo!!!  :)  Yay for the gospel!