So Alcalá is famous for its storks... you know like the big birds that bring babies to people...
Well
they have storks here, so occasionally we will look up to the sky and
just see these ginormous birds flying over head. I really feel like I´m
in Hogwarts at these moments, because I think that is what it would be
like to have buckbeak flying overhead. Every time I just really hope
they don´t poop on us... that would be a disaster. Monday, September 29, 2014
So storks are a real thing...
Monday, September 22, 2014
Cathedrals, Castles, Columbus...all in a days work
So I really love Alcalá!!! It is an incredible area, I have an
incredible companion and we're seeing so many miracles!! Alcalá is one
of the more historic cities in Spain... so we´ll be walking down the
street and see a famous cathedral and then keep walking and see the
oldest University in Europe. Then we´ll go to a plaza to teach a lesson
and it is a plaza dedicated to a famous Spaniard author, Miguel
Cervantes, because he just happened to be born in Alcalá. Then we´ll be
contacting in one area of town and run across a palace which happens to
be the palace of Queen Isabel I (where Christopher Columbus went to ask
to travel)... you know it´s a pretty historic place :) It´s been fun to
feel like a part of Spain and get to know more about the Spanish
history. This ward is actually also one of the oldest in Spain, so a lot
of the members are the pioneers of Spain. nifty, huh?! Needless to say,
I´m loving it here!
So we´ve been seeing lots of miracles!
So we´ve been seeing lots of miracles!
-On
Wednesday we are making our way to our district meeting... and we run
into one of my investigators from Barrio 6. "A"... so she had
dropped off the face of the earth about 3 months ago-- we literally
didn´t know what happened because she was progressing a ton. Well we saw
her in the streets, turns out she moved to Alcalá (thus the dropping
off the face of the earth)... but we had a lesson with her and she is
even more ready to receive the gospel. I told her that seeing her and me
being here isn´t a coincidence.. that this is God telling her that she
really needs this message in her life... :) She agreed with me. :)
-We
contacted this man, "J", taught him about the Restoration and when
we got to the Book of Mormon he told us it looked familiar. So the next
lesson we had with him, he brought his Book of Mormon that he found in
his house, crazy, right?! Now the next step.. actually reading the book.
-We
contacted this girl... she is on study abroad here but is originally
from Vegas. She actually has a bunch of Mormon friends and went to
seminary with them. So she is a seminary graduate...and not a member.
Let me tell you how often we run into seminary graduates in the street
- that never happens. She was super excited to give us her number and
meet and all! :)
Just lots of great things are happening! This has been a good change, we just go out and work, and I absolutely love that!
It
rains quite a bit here too... haha so we´re trying to perfect the art
of contacting with umbrellas...but at least we´ve got the element of
surprise--most people aren´t accustomed to being stopped in the pouring
rain :) at least for a few moments they receive cover from the rain :)
On
Sunday I was asked to give my testimony as part of the welcoming to the
ward ritual... but I was given specific instructions to be personal and
get the ward to see me as a person as well as a missionary. So (oh I
was so proud of myself) I got the whole ward to laugh! :) Woohoo I was
so happy...
There was a day when we were fed a TON... and on our way home my comp was trying to get me to eat chocolate... usually I just eat the dang chocolate but I was so full.. and haha she told me either I eat it or I give it to someone on the street. haha So the next people we passed were a bunch of punk teenagers, it was a contact of chocolate and then the gospel...they rejected them both... but their faces were priceless. My comp ended up eating the chocolate as a reward for my good performance :) haha
There was a day when we were fed a TON... and on our way home my comp was trying to get me to eat chocolate... usually I just eat the dang chocolate but I was so full.. and haha she told me either I eat it or I give it to someone on the street. haha So the next people we passed were a bunch of punk teenagers, it was a contact of chocolate and then the gospel...they rejected them both... but their faces were priceless. My comp ended up eating the chocolate as a reward for my good performance :) haha
Well have a great week!!! Love you lots!
Hna Fowers
Monday, September 15, 2014
Off to Alcala
So change of pace... here I am in Alcalá! :) I have got the cutest
companion and I´m super excited to finish up her
training and I´m super excited to be here. Oh man I´m so happy!
I love Barrio 6 and it was super hard to leave. It really is amazing to me how fast and how much I can come to love the people here. Yesterday we visited some of my favorite people... and literally ate 5 different times yesterday. I was about ready to throw up. haha There goes my diet for the whole transfer :)
Well love you lots! Have a great week!
I love Barrio 6 and it was super hard to leave. It really is amazing to me how fast and how much I can come to love the people here. Yesterday we visited some of my favorite people... and literally ate 5 different times yesterday. I was about ready to throw up. haha There goes my diet for the whole transfer :)
Well here is some great
news!!!!! "M". . Ok we have been working with her since I arrived in
B6 just about 6 months ago.. She wants to get baptized so badly, like
she has the most desire out of anyone I´ve ever seen- but couldn´t
because of some situations. Anyway we´ve been working on that for 6
months- we had to teach her a lot about the Lord´s timing and truly
accepting his will in our lives. We were there when she broke down in
tears because she couldn´t get baptized. My heart is completely and
totally with her and I have grown and learned so much as I´ve watched
her learn and grow. She is such an example to me and I love her so
much. Well anyway on Friday she calls ecstatic and tells me that she is
ready to get baptized... that the situation is resolved and she can now
get baptized. Oh my gosh, 6 months of teaching and waiting and
comforting and relying on the Lord... and she is getting baptized the
week I leave. I guess I needed to apply all those lessons we taught
about accepting the Lord´s timing! :) I´m sooo happy for her. I know
that this is truly the desire of her heart, to be baptized, and I know
that she will be blessed for the rest of her life for this decision! :)
So sad that I won´t be there.... haha
Also... so
there is a recent convert named "E" and when I first got to B6 he
was super solid, wanted to go on a mission, was sharing his testimony
with everyone. He then kind of fell off the end of the earth and
wouldn´t meet with us or anything. It was super sad to see the change in
his life. Well about 2 weeks ago we stopped by and were able to get
in... and we had a super straightforward lesson... I basically just told
him the potential I had seen in him and how it was so sad to see him
blowing that away. It was a super straightforward lesson but it actually
got to him. So this week we had a lesson with him and his friend,
and I got to see a glimpse of the old "E" again. He was more humble
and was bearing a simple testimony. Yesterday they both came to church.
:) He is turning around and it is a miracle to see it.
Ok well 3 funny moments for the week:
Ok well 3 funny moments for the week:
-we
were contacting an elderly lady.... she was a little deaf and thought
we were asking where the church was- so she started giving us directions
to the temple... hahaha thanks...
-we were eating with a
member and her little girl turns to us and told us ´man, your life is
such a pity´... hahaha because we only have one free day a week... we
spent a good chunk of time persuading her that it is the best
-and I definitely ate a liver sandwich this week and wanted to throw up. haha
Well love you lots! Have a great week!
Monday, September 8, 2014
"E"
My favorite little "E" got baptized on Saturday. It was super cute, and now you all get to hear about it: drumroll please. :)
-
Background... so June was the month of invitation for Europe. So the
members were supposed to invite their friends to church, whether it be
nonmembers or less actives... and "L" (a blessed member) invited her
friend "I" to church.
This particular Sunday Hna
Manner and I were in the Primary helping with the music. I just happened
to sit by "E" and got to know her a little. Then in Sacrament
meeting I saw "E" sitting by "L" and I didn´t recognize her mom. So I
headed over there to talk to them :) Come to find out "I" had been
inactive for a while but was wanting to come back..only problem was that
they didn´t live in our area. So we kept in contact with them for a
while until we got news that they were moving into our area. Sweet. So
we had an FHE in the house of "L" with their whole family "A" (her
dad), "I" (her mom), and "E". In this FHE we brought the children's
Book of Mormon and taught about Joseph Smith and the Restoration. You
have to understand that "E" didn´t know anything about the church,
she didn´t know who Joseph Smith was or what the Book of Mormon was. We
watched her as she learned about the church and truly came to gain a
super strong testimony. Incredible. So at the end of the lesson we gave
her the Book of Mormon and her face absolutely and completely lit up. :)
Once
they lived in our area we could go over and start visiting them. I
called once to set something up and "E" (talking a million words a
minute) said ´Hna Fowers, Hna Fowers, now you can come over and teach me
and then I can get baptized´ :) Literally I loved her from the first
time I talked with her, she is just so pure and adorable! Teaching
her was sooo much fun... I love kids and I love teaching kids... :)
we were able to teach the lessons in ways that were really fun and
creative and it really was a highlight of my week. She always informed
us on her reading in her book and told us every single little detail she
could remember. So cute.
Anyway long story short, she
is as close to heaven as you can get and she was so prepared to be
baptized. So Saturday was the big day. She arrived in her white dress
and looked like an angel! :) The spirit was sooo strong and she bore her
testimony after her baptism and said that she felt ´phenomenal´ and
that ´after feeling the way she does she knows for sure that God
exists´. Soooooooo cute. It has been amazing to see how her family has
grown closer to Christ. Her parents have become super active members
with testimonies super strong and "E" is an angel. I love them all so
much!!! She now has a family strong in the gospel and I know that she
will grow up to do so many great things because she is an incredible
girl!
Well that was long. :) but it has been the
biggest blessing for me to see the process of all this and watch as her
father brought her into the waters of baptism. One of the most powerful
moments of my mission. :) The Lord knows us well... This has been a
super hard transfer but it has also been a time when I have seen
miracles come to pass :)
Also... this week was the
week for Las Palmas to come to the temple. so I got to see all the
people I love!!! Blessings coming from everywhere! :)
Well peace out. Have a great week!
Monday, September 1, 2014
What to do when trapped in an elevator
Well we have a baptism this Saturday! :) of one of my favorite people in
the whole world! "E"!!!! woohoo! So she´s the little girl we´ve
been teaching. We went over there this week and asked her if she´s
thought about her baptismal date. Her parents told us they wanted the
6th of September :) Woohoo. I turned to "E" and asked her how she
felt about her baptism and getting baptized on that date. ¨It´s like I´m
walking on a cloud, I´m just so happy¨ If that isn´t the cutest thing
you´ve ever heard I don´t know what is! :) It was just one of those
moments you can´t help but to smile :) haha She also was wearing a name
badge that had her name in big letters. Her mom told us that because we
always came with name badges on she wanted to be like us and made her
own :) Adorable. She´s adorable. I gave her one of my chappas for the
lesson and she was a missionary too :) So yesterday in church they
announced her baptism in Sacrament Meeting and when they did she just
burst into the biggest smile you´ve ever seen. :) I reached over and
gave her a big hug because I just love her so much. I know that she is a
huge reason I am here in Barrio 6- I can see so much potential in her
and in her whole family and I´m so grateful to be able to see the hand
of the Lord working in their lives! :)
I ran into Uncle Mike´s mission companion ... the one I was supposed to be looking for... :) So he´s now in the mission presidency and for zone conference he bore his testimony. When they said his name I thought it sounded familiar, but then he told us about some of his mission experiences from his mission in California and then I remembered that he is Mike´s mission companion! :) We talked for a while after. He said Mike was one of his closest companions! :)
I ran into Uncle Mike´s mission companion ... the one I was supposed to be looking for... :) So he´s now in the mission presidency and for zone conference he bore his testimony. When they said his name I thought it sounded familiar, but then he told us about some of his mission experiences from his mission in California and then I remembered that he is Mike´s mission companion! :) We talked for a while after. He said Mike was one of his closest companions! :)
Small world, no?
-"M" She´s hilarious. We met with her again, this time
with her husband-So we taught the first lesson again. She helped us out
with the teaching of the lesson because she really understood everything
so well! So at the end of the lesson when we were all bearing our
testimonies she just jumped right in there and bore her testimony about
how she knows Joseph Smith is a prophet and how the Book of Mormon is
true. :) Super cute. So haha funny story- at the beginning of the
lesson she pulls out her Bible- and it´s a Jehovah Witness Bible... so
we explain that this Bible has been changed and we´ll bring her a new
Bible. She is so excited about getting a new Bible and tells us we can
take the other bible and bring her a new one. Perfect. So fast forward
to the end of the lesson- we had already left and were down on the
street when she pops her head out her window (on the fourth floor) and
shouts that we forgot the Bible. The words ´oh we´ll come get it´ don´t
even start to come out of our mouths before she chucks the Bible out her
window. haha Fourth floor straight into the bushes...I mean yeah it´s
been changed but it is still a Bible. haha I really wish I could
relive that moment and record it because it was hilarious. We then
proceeded to climb through the bushes to retrieve it. Great fun.
This week was just chalk full of adventures- So Saturday night we
were leaving a cita with a menos activa. So we get in the elevator, like
normal, and start heading down to the bottom floor, like normal. Well
we get to the bottom floor and the elevator stops... but the doors don´t
open or anything. That´s weird... but we just waited for a minute for
them to open. Yeah they didn´t open. haha So after a few minutes we
realized that they probably weren´t going to open and we began to push
all the buttons that we could find- nothing (except for the alarm button
which definitely did work but didn´t do us much good other than give us
all a headache). So at this point one of my companions starts to
hyperventilate and my other companion and I are just laughing at how
ridiculous the situation is. So I call up "M" and let her know that we
are stuck in the elevator. A bunch of people head to the bottom floor
and we manage to pry open the elevator door :) Turns out the elevator
had stopped between the 1st and bottom floor- haha so there was a little
gap that we could climb out and then jump down to the ground. It was
great fun. That sure doesn´t happen everyday! :) I was happy I didn´t
have to explain to the District Leader that we would be spending the
night that dang elevator.
Well other than that it´s been a pretty mellow week. For the first
time in my 14 months in Spain my chocolate chip cookies actually turned
out looking like chocolate chip cookies... so I was pretty proud of
that!
Well have a great week! :) Love ya lots! :)
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