...and then there were three

Alrighty... well people know how to party in Spain. 

There was a going away party for a family in our ward... we walked in to see the entire church gym full of tables... haha then the Relief Society quickly put us to work and we carried out platters and platters full of food... Woohooo party!! :)

Well here is the news of the week: we got a new companion, we are now a trio- Hermanas Fowers, Galvez, y Rojas. Now I am outnumbered and we do everything the Latin way and in Spanish. haha  Which also means that I am officially now a blonde... because my hair definitely is not brown?!? haha I´ve given up trying to argue that one :)

So this week:

-"M"!!! She is the one we met last week on Sunday and thought the Book of Mormon was a treasure (because it is) and that we are angels (because we are ;). Anyway we met with her this week and had an incredible lesson!!! She´s already read up until Alma, we taught her the Restoration and she loved everything and accepted to be baptized! :) Woohoo..  So we met with her on Saturday and invited her to church on Sunday. So Sunday rolls around, she doesn´t show up at ten, so we call her after the first hour, she said her and her husband were on the way. (We have Sacrament Meeting last) so Sacrament Meeting starts and we just assume they aren´t going to come.. then they walk in- but as we are singing the closing song. haha  (So close and yet so far) .. but have no fear- we grabbed a member and gave them a temple tour. They loved it, she had told her husband all about lesson 1 and about her baptism date... so we asked him if he wanted to be baptized on that day too.. and the answer was yes! :) Meanwhile we are giving this tour - -  we arrange for all of us to eat with some members, so while we are waiting for the food to get ready we quickly watch the short Joseph Smith Restoration film :) and then had a very enjoyable meal with a bunch of members. So ideal... I´m so excited for them!

-"M"! So over the last few weeks she has sort of lost interest a little bit, stopped coming to church and reading, so we were a bit sad about that but this week everything turned around. We went over there and had a super powerful lesson about the Book of Mormon. She was explaining the Book of Mormon to her brother-in-law. ´It´s like the Hermanas always tell me, you have to read and then pray about if it is true. Then God will send an answer that it is true´. Oh man that was like music to my ears.  So we continue with that.

-"I" is such a sweet little girl :) We had a super cute lesson with her this week and as we were leaving her piso she was blowing bubbles out the window to bid us farewell! haha  Love her!

-So we had a miracle lesson with "R"... our second miracle with him! So we were walking down the street talking to some people, and we run into him (a recent convert who is preparing to go through the temple). He seemed a little down so we sat down and started talking to him, well one thing led to another and we shared some scriptures, gave some encouragement. We literally watched his countenance change throughout the course of the lesson. At the end he told us that he had been a little offended and started to wonder if what he was doing was the right thing (going through the temple and all)... well it was a miracle that we ran into him- for him and for us... 

Okey dokey... all in a weeks work!

Popsicle bookmarks

-We´re just walking down the street one morning talking to the people of Spain. We stop this young man and start to talk to him about the gospel, something amazing happened...he actually was excited about talking to us. :) Woohoo!!!! We taught him about the Restoration right then and there in the street and gave him a Book of Mormon. It was an incredible lesson, one of the best I´ve experienced on my mission- He has so much knowledge and so much desire to know, which makes it sooo fun to teach! :) He mentioned that his family are Jehovah´s witnesses... we asked him if he was also... He told us that he never really felt filled by any of the religions and was looking for something that ´´fills´´ him. That is when we gave him the Book of Mormon... anyone wanting to be filled just needs to read and pray... the Spirit with do the rest! :)

-So I love "B" so much! We met with her last Monday... She loved church! She really has so much faith and it is incredible to be in lessons with her and have her add her testimony onto ours. :) So we brought up baptism last week and she told us she wanted to be 100 percent sure she wanted to get baptized before she would commit to anything. So then on Monday she was bearing her testimony about prayer and how she knows that if she asks with faith she will get the answers she needs and when she receives those answers she needs to act on them. So we just tied that right back into baptism.:) We told her that if she prayed with that same faith about if she needed to get baptized, God would give her the answers she needs, the reassurance she needs. Then she would have the strength to follow through with that commitment. The Spirit was incredible. It really clicked with her, because we were able to tie it back to something she already had a testimony on. :) We also taught her the Plan of Salvation.. which she loved! Man I love her, she´s so ready. 

-"E"... :) that is one of my favorite lessons of the whole entire week! :) Oh man she is adorable, I love her so much and the best part is that she loves me too! :) She made me promise this week that we would be best friends forever. She has the cutest popsicle stick bookmark in her Book of Mormon, she´s making me one too! :) Score!

-We talked to this woman named "M" on the street yesterday... she was kind of in bad shape when we started talking to her and kept telling us ´I just want peace , I just want peace´... so we sat down and shared some scriptures and talked about how the gospel and how the Book of Mormon can bring this peace. She just listened and said ´but I don´t have this book´... we then handed over a copy. and she looked at it, hugged it to her chest, started crying and thanked us for being her angels. Super cute. 

Well life is great here!

Shout out to my brother who is getting married on Saturday... Sorry bro but I just don´t think I´ll be able to fit it in my schedule ;) haha 

Lots of love coming your way- 

Hermana Fowers

Kids are so smart :)

-Well I definitely taught the Hoki Poki to my English class this week . . haha I got some serious teasing from the missionaries.. but my class loved it. .  so whatever :)

- Let me tell you about "E"! Her parents have been inactive for a while and have recently started coming back to church. So we are working with the parents and getting "E" ready for baptism! :) She is the cutest little girl and I absolutely love working with kids!! :) We had given her the children's Book of Mormon picture book and asked her if she read it... she then proceeded to explain to us (in great detail) the story of the Book of Mormon. She´s adorable.  Loved it! :)  We asked her what she knew about the Restoration or about Joseph Smith. ´well basically Joseph wanted to know which church was true.. so he prayed to God, and God came to him and told him to go to the Mormon church´ hahaha  I love kids so much!

-"B" is incredible! :)  We went there one day when she was a little sick and not really herself... we had planned to watch the Restoration movie and I was hoping she would be able to pay attention to it... so at the end of the movie she told us that it really impacted her.. she thanked us for giving her the opportunity to forget about herself and her problems for a while and just be able to focus on God and feel His spirit... and she came to church!!  She also brought her son... let me tell you what that means for her- so her son is in a wheelchair.. and she has to carry him and the wheelchair down 4 flights of stairs. That is dedication!  I love her lots!

- We were teaching "M" and "S"... we teach them about the life of Christ and watch a short clip about some of his miracles and teachings... at the end of the clip we asked the 6 year old "S" what was her favorite miracle that she saw.... ´well when Jesus paid for all our sins so we can return back to God´  Children are so smart. :)

-We got locked out of our piso again... haha but this time we had a better ending to our story. I was on intercambios and the key that we had wasn´t working to her piso... we literally tried for 20 minutes to open this stinking door... I was really determined because I know what it is like to be locked out for the night...haha but we called over some elders and they tried to open it... first try and it opened right up. Really embarrassing! :)

- Today we went to the coolest park... Parque Europa!  It had little monuments from lots of different countries all over Europe! :)  Super fun! Loved it so much!

"The Light"

So this week we found some awesome new investigators! :) I´m super excited for them because I can see so much potential in both of them! :) The way found them, and our first lessons were miracles:

-"B"- So it was like Wednesday of last week and we got a reference from the mission office. Sweet! So we go about our day, and we talk to some people on the streets and get some numbers. So the next day we start calling our references and we put it together that we have two "B"s with the same number in our planners. God had literally put her in our pathway twice in one day. So we call her up and set something up that same day. Dang, she is so prepared. She has a son who was in a pretty bad car crash in May and she wants to set an example of faith for him. So we had an awesome lesson about Jesus and how he can heal us... and then we taught the Restoration and how through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ we can find peace in this life. The spirit was so strong. we asked her if she believed this, if the truth has been restored, she was quiet and then nodded and said ´Yes, yes I believe.´ and then looked at her son and basically testified that this was the truth, the faith they needed in their lives to be happy. It was incredible.

- "J"- So we got her number like 2 weeks ago and finally got in contact with her this week. So like 2 weeks ago we were giving a mutual lesson in the church.. and it ended and we had a little bit of time before our next lesson, but we both felt really strongly like we needed to leave the church. Very few times have I felt literally, physically guided... but this was one of those times I felt like God just picked us up and tossed us out on the street and into her path. She is also super prepared. Her sister is sick with cancer and she promised the Lord that she would start going to church if she found the right path to follow. Super awesome!!!

Okey dokey well we also had a cool experience with "M"... :)  We really just had an all around good week! :)

So we were talking about how we get our answers... the different ways the Spirit can talk to us... and she was like ´you know I had a weird experience the other day...´  So then she proceeds to explain that she was praying and as she opened her eyes it was as if she saw a light that was trying to reach her but couldn´t... and then she turned to us and asked us what that meant.  Uhhhhh... I don´t know. So we start to ask her some more question. ´What were you doing right before´ ´Well I was reading from the Book of Mormon´ :) ´and how did you feel while you saw this light´ ´ I felt really good... and I felt like I wanted to see more light, like with this light I could see everything more clearly´... Then she wanted to show us what she was reading right before this experience... she opened to the page with the picture of Jesus Christ descending to visit the people in the Americas. Oh man that moment was incredible, just a calm silence as we realized God is answering our prayers. "M" do you believe this is true´ ´Yes´.  I testify that the Book of Mormon is true... that Jesus is our Savior and God wants to answer our prayers. He knows each and every one of us and hears the humble, faithful prayers of our hearts. I know that this Gospel is the ´light´ that each of us are searching for in this life. That just as "M" is discovering... with this light and knowledge of the gospel we can see everything else more clearly in our lives.

-Well I taught the Relief Society how to make banana bread this week...they thought it was this complex exquisite dessert. Fooled them :) and definitely applied the ´I am the bread of Life´ scripture.. haha :)

-And at the end of English class this week I was wiping off the chalk from my hands... and my class thought I was clapping my hands (like as if I was asking for applause) haha so they all started applauding at the end of the class... It was super awkward.

Well I hope your week is full of awkward, spiritual, uplifting experiences too! :)
Much love,

Hna Fowers

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!