Book of Mormon Stories... :)

Alrighty... it is hot. 

Let me try to explain to you how hot it is... this week we were walking down the street and a member runs up to us, starts scolding us for being out in the heat, pulls out her water bottle and dumps it on our heads to cool us down. haha and I wish I could tell you she did it as a joke... but she didn´t. :) ...but the Lord is blessing us so it´s all good.... we had an awesome week! 

-"M"  - So she doesn´t read really well and reading the Book of Mormon is hard for her. Last week she told us that she feels something special when we are with her and she understands while we´re there... but when we´re gone she doesn´t feel-understand anything. Well shoot... the Book of Mormon is kind of crucial. So we bought one of those children Book of Mormon stories books... (you know the ones that have the pictures and it is kind of like a comic) and gave it to her. She absolutely loved it... we left her with one story to read. The next time we visited we asked her if she read, she got all excited and explained that she read and understood everything! She explained to us the story we left her, and then turned the page and started explaining the next story, and the next story. well turns out she had read like 10 stories and loved every second of it! The difference in her demeanor was incredible and her perspective and attitude was completely changed! Oh man I´m telling you that it was incredible. I just sat there and smiled as I literally saw how the Lord had touched her heart. She is starting to love the Book of Mormon and oh man I just love her so much!

-We found this family recently.. the parents are menos activos and their young daughter isn´t baptized yet. (we had an fhe with them like 2 weeks ago)... so they are moving into our ward.  I called them yesterday to see if we could help them move or anything... the little girl answered ´´who is it´ ´the missionaries´ ´OOHH!! HERMANA FOWERS. guess what guess what guess what!? We´re moving into the ward this week and then you can come over and teach me the lessons!!!!!!!´  It was absolutely the cutest thing I´ve ever heard! She is a sweetheart! I love kids!!!! :)

- We talked to "M" about Family History work and so this week we brought her to the family history center and helped her get started on her family tree and finding her ancestors.  Man, I´ve never had that much interest in family history. but it was incredible.  There was such a strong spirit... She was so excited about it, and I wanted to get on the computer too and do mine. haha  Good week, good week.

So a member asked us to decorate for the surprise birthday party of her daughter. hahaha.  Service. decorating. birthday... hmmmmm   Yes, yes we can do that. :) It was super fun. I got to stand on a table and tape things to the ceiling. haha  I think that was the highlight of my day that day and the daughter was so cute when she walked into the room with all the yw-ym and a wonderfully decorated room! :)

Well that basically sums it up.  We saw lots of miracles! and I hope you do too this week! :)

Lots of love,
Hermana Fowers

Pass along craft

This week we got a reference from some other missionaries.. for some old investigators that had moved to our area, but were willing to meet with us. Sweet. So we give them a call and they could see us that afternoon. Awesome! So we go... and "V" answers the door- she is super sweet and welcomes us into their house.  As we are talking we discover that not only are they not investigators but are recent converts that had just recently been sealed in the temple! Gotta love miscommunication :)  We had a great lesson and we got some chocolate from Bulgaria... not complaining at all! :)

I am pleased to announce that I had a fun craft project this week... it started out as we were doing 12 weeks and watching a video about working with members... well Spain is a little different than the United States... and I didn´t want to tell my cute little new companion that it was unreasonable expectations... so instead we made plans to do a cute little missionary object lesson in Relief Society! So it was themed around ´gifts´ and we made a gift and filled it with ´gifts´ the members could give out to their friends (aka we took the missionary pamphlets and pass along cards and wrapped them up in cute ribbons)... and it turned out really well!!  We wrapped like 90 folletos and the members took every single one!! :)

We had some really good lessons with our Romanian family this week! Times when the spirit was so strong! :) That is one of the greatest feelings in the world, leaving a lesson feeling uplifted knowing that we felt the spirit and they did to. Plus then the people on the streets can feel that spirit too as we contact them and continue to testify with that same strong spirit. Great feelings.

We met with a member ... she is less active and has been a little down the last few weeks, but this week we went and the difference was incredible! She was happy and she was sharing her testimony... we asked her was the difference was- she told us that she took our advice and started reading the Book of Mormon daily. I´m telling you the difference was incredible!! That book has some major power!!!! :)

Well love you lots!

I played the accordian :)

So the greatest thing happened yesterday!!! The Romanian family came to church!! Woohoo!  They are so awesome! When we teach them the lessons are incredible, the spirit is so strong, and they have so much desire to learn! We were waiting at the church for them and when they came through the doors I was the happiest girl! :) The little 5 year old boy went to primary and loved it and the parents loved it too!! The 5 year old cheered when he found out they were passing out bread during the sacrament.  It was awesome.

Well we had the cutest FHE this week... so we found this family whose parents have been less active for a while and the daughter isn´t baptized. The little girl, "E", is the cutest sweetest 9 year old you will ever meet... and I´ve always wanted to teach a child :) So we had the cutest FHE with them... we went and got a children picture Book of Mormon and the first story is about Joseph Smith. So we read from the picture book about Joseph Smith and then talked about the Restoration and the importance of the Book of Mormon. At the end we gave her the picture book so she can read the Book of Mormon and she got soooo excited!! It was sooo cute!  Then we played a game and I lost and as a punishment they found all the miscelleanoeus things in the house and dressed me in them.. .haha  I secretly loved it, but didn´t tell them that because it was supposed to be a punishment... :)

We met with "B" for the first time this week and she was really touched by the story of Joseph Smith and the First Vision. When we explained what happened she was quiet for a minute, and then said ´yeah, that´s is right God always answers our faithful prayers´. She then told us all about an experience she had with prayer. So talking about the first vision really allowed her to open up and take our message to heart! :)

Now I just have some random moments from the week...

-We were sharing a scripture with a mom who was holding a baby on her lap. The baby reaches down grabs a bunch of pages of my Book of Mormon and starts playing with them. haha so I get the Book of Mormon away from her and the mom says...´wow that must be a pretty amazing book...¨ we were about to say ´why yes, yes it is...´ and she continues ´because any other book those pages would have ripped..´ haha  Just a good book all around!

-During the ward FHE a member showed a clip of Lion King as part of his talk. I walked in the room, saw a tree on the tv, knew it was a Disney tree, and my heart exploded with happiness... let me tell you 5 minutes of Lion King was not enough.. sooo good!!

-We stopped by a member´s house this week and she had forgotten to put her teeth in... let me tell you, it is 5 times harder to understand Spanish when there are no teeth involved... :)

-My companion keeps telling me I have blonde hair. haha  I keep telling her she is crazy.

-And a quote of the week ¨To feel the joy the Lord feels, we need to be doing His work¨

So have a great week!! :) Love you lots!

Hermana Fowers!

Besos...

Well, Happy 4th of July! :)

I definitely have to say celebrating the 4th with a Canadian comp is a little anti-climatic... haha she had to put up with me singing patriotic songs and wishing everyone a happy 4th of July! :) but good news... the grocery store had a special American display so I celebrated by buying peanut butter and brownies! :)

  

We had quite a few of miracle lessons this week!! Super cool to see how the Lord works...

-So Tuesday basically everything failed and we ended up contacting a good portion of the day. It got to be towards the end of the day, we were tired and really wanted to have a lesson. I called everyone and their dog and nothing. So my comp was a little down, and I was like it´s alright we´re going to keep contacting down this street and we´re going to find somebody. Not 15 seconds later we ran into 2 members. So we start talking to them and we ended sitting on a bench with them and sharing some scriptures. It was a miracle on all parts. So "C" is a recent convert and was having a hard day, he was really tempted to go to a bar.  But he just happened to run into "R" (who is a member) so they started talking and 5 minutes later we showed up. So as we´re talking the story unfolds and "C" told us that he was praying for strength to overcome his temptation-he then ran into "R".  "R" heard "C"'s situation and was praying for a Book of Mormon because he wanted to share a scripture- then we showed up... and we were praying for someone to teach- and we ran into a miracle!!! Oh man it is incredible how the Lord works. We were able to sit on that bench and feel the spirit so powerfully and feel the love God has for each and every one of his children.
 

- So right before that lesson I was calling a bunch of people trying to set something up and "B" (another recent convert) came to my mind. Turns out she couldn´t that night but we set something up a different day. So we go to her house and have a great lesson- the spirit was super strong. At the end of her lesson she explains that this week has been really hard for her and she has had to make some really big decisions and she really appreciated the spirit that she could feel in the lesson. God is truly aware of all of us..

-We went to a lesson with "E" and she wasn´t there... so we head back to the metro and wait for our train.. The train comes and as we get on we hear someone yelling our names... "E" had just gotten off that very same train and saw us as we got on. So we were able to have our lesson!! There are no such thing as coincidences! :) 

So I am pretty good at avoiding besos... (culture note... everyone kisses cheeks here and we are not allowed to kiss men. obviously). So when a man goes to give us besos we have to awkwardly avoid them.... and it is a skill I have gotten pretty good at.... until this week.  So we are at the house of our Romanian family and there is a man there who really likes the color of my hair. So he starts rubbing my hair.... (weird!)  but I kind of back up and keep the conversation going with the rest of the family but then haha just out of no where this man just grabs my head, pulls me in and kisses my forehead. Dang... I was so proud of my ability to to avoid kisses and as he grabbed my head I was just thinking ´well there is no way to avoid this one´.  So that is the story of my my first ´mission´ kiss story. haha  So disappointed I have one.

The family is actually doing really well.. they told us they would come to church and everything, but they didn´t show up... so we went over Sunday afternoon to see what happened.  They told us they couldn´t come, but were so sorry that they went to the Catholic church... haha kind of missed the point of the Restoration.... poco a poco...

I wish you all the best!! :)  Have a great week!

Hna Fowers!