Zaragoza - Week eleven

HI FAMILY!

So this week was WILLLD. We had great stuff happen. First off, Monday night we had a lesson at our branch presidents house with a less active lady and her family. Her name is Tatiana, we've been trying to get her husband to come back to church since we got here. Anyway, she brought another less active friend, Raquel. We taught a lesson on the Atonement. I think it was the most powerful lesson we have had in a long time. The spirit was really strong, it was incredible.

Then this week I got to do another intercambio. Man intercambios make time fly. Hermana Findlay and I left to two different cities on the same day, and came back at the same time the next day. It's really fun to work with other Hermanas, but I always really miss Hermana Findlay. She's the best.

Okay so we had some wild lessons. On Thursday, we taught this lady from Portugal and her son. I didn't know they were evangelists until we started the prayer. Beforehand, I explained how we pray in our church and what not, and then offered to give the first prayer. Well I don't know if any of you have ever prayed with an evangelist, but let me tell you things get wild! Haha, as I started, the both started whispering loud prayers of their own along with me. It caught me off guard. But luckily I made it through the prayer. It was funny. Now ya'll know. Anyway, they are real great, hopefully we are going back to see them today as well.

Then on Friday, we went to visit Ester, who is doing so well. She wants to be baptized. And luckily she just moved out of her boyfriends house so she can! We taught her the restoration and she really liked it. She loves meeting with us and always calls us her sisters. Also after the lesson she gave us some food... SHE FED US COW STOMACH. So gross. And no I didn't eat it. We've gotten really good at avoiding weird foods without them knowing. Let's just say Hermana Findlay was a Saint. She saved us. But anyway, we love Ester. She's doing super good, reading and all. She's really sweet and I'm excited to see her keep progressing.

Yesterday we had concilio in the mission home, it was super fun! We got to sleep there Sunday night and when we got there Hermana Pace had made food for us Hermanas. We love staying with them and spending time with them. In Concilio, President Pace talked about how he needs us to be the best we can, and to be the best examples we can to all the other missionaries. It was really good to hear, to help us to keep motivation to do everything we can to be exactly obedient. It was a really incredible meeting!

Also, a miracle we had this week. We called Raquel on Sunday morning inviting her to church, and she was like well, my family isn't ready to go yet, and I don't want to go alone, so we told her to call Tatiana. She was like, that's a great idea! I'll come! So Raquel  and Tatiana walked in the church doors together Sunday morning, and Raquel brought her son (who isn't a member). It was really neat. Tatiana had been inactive for so many years and finally decided to come back, and as she's been reactivated, she's been helping other people come back in the process. It was really a tender mercy for us on Sunday.


Anyway, life here is so good. I love the mission. I love my companion. We have transfers in two weeks and are really praying we get one more transfer together here. I really feel blessed to have her, we have fun together. I love this work, I love my Savior, I love this gospel. Love you family!!

Hermana Frassypants



COW STOMACH!

Birthday morning fun! 

Hermana Findlay's birthday 

Here's  panoramic of the cute roofs of this pueblo, super antique 

and the other is a birthday excitement pic! 

This is at a menos activos house in a cute little pueblo, we ate there for hermana findlays birthday! super fun 

f

Zaragoza - Week ten

Hey family!! HAPPY EASTER

Also THANK YOU SO MUCH for the Easter package! I got it this week! It was way fun to open, and I loved the letters.... and THE CADBURY EGGS. you know me so well.

So this week flew by!

Tuesday I went and did an intecambio with a Hermana in a cute little pueblo called Sant Cugat. It was way fun. Also they have it good in their apartment. It's two levels. You're all sensitive too, I know it's fine. Also they have heated floors. Is that even real? Apparently.

Anyway, after the intercambio, I was back in our area for a day, and then on Friday we went to the islands!! Hermana Findlay and I were pummmppeed! We took a train down to Barcelona and then from there we took a plane to the islands. It was only about a 45 minute ride, but it was GORGEOUS. Holy cow, all the way there you could see the entire island from the sky. And then the islands were just gorgeous. Sorry I don't really have pictures though, I realized I'm terrible at that. I'll work on it. So then on Saturday, Elder Evans, who is the executive director of the missionary department for the church (He works directly under Elder Bednar) came to speak to us all.

I'll be honest, his message was kinda fuerte haha.. like really bold... that's the best way to describe it in english.

He talked about how he thinks that there will come a time when missionaries won't contact in the streets or knock doors anymore, because it's been doing more harm than good. For now we will still do it because the 12 apostles haven't come to an agreement on it yet but he really stressed the importance of working with members, and how that is the best way to do missionary work. So that's something we are really going to try and work on. Limit street contacting, and try to work better with the members in our area. He really stressed teaching our investigators what repentance means, and how when they have a change of heart, they are more likely to stay active because they have been converted. He said how missionaries have a tendency to skip from faith straight to baptism, and then people fall away easier. He said a lot of really bold comments about little things we can do to improve. Soooo we have lots to work on haha. But it was really good. It made me really excited to see how we could work better in our area.

Also he told us we have the best mission president in the entire world. So that was a big deal. It's so true though, we are so blessed to have him.

We also got the opportunity to watch that Because of Him video. It made me cry. This week I hit my 9 month mark in the mission, halfway. It's really made me think a lot about everything. As I watched that video, I really thought about what my Savior has done for me. Because of Him, I am here on a mission. Because of Him, I really know that I have a Heavenly Father that loves me. Because of Him, I know that every trial and hardship we have is to strengthen us. When I think about the fact that I am on a mission, I am filled with so much gratitude for my Heavenly Father that I'm here. The mission has really changed me, it's the most incredible thing I have ever done. And I'm so grateful to be here. I can't wait to see what the next 9 months have in store!

So this week, we still struggled to find, but as we work more and more through our members, and help strengthen them, I know the Lord will bless us with more people to teach. We found this one lady the other night (actually, I had bought some chocolate (I was inspired I think haha) and then I contacted the first person outside the store) her name is Ester, shes from Guniea, she's way cute. We taught her once, and she came to church with us on Sunday! She loved it. She's been taught before, but she said now she's in a better place in her life than she was last time, so she's ready for it. I'm excited to see what happens with her.

That's all really for this week! I hope you had a fun Easter!! I love you family! Thanks again for the package!!

Love,
Hermana Fras

We played pin the tail on the donkey for hermana porters birthday last Monday haha. I look like a fool, its fine.

Zaragoza - Week nine

HI family!

First off, congrats Mom and Dad on your half marathon. I'm way jealous. Let's do one together when I get back. Speaking of, Hermana Findlay and I are running 4 miles every morning here. We wake up early to do it. We have to get skinny before we see you on Mothers Day.

Life here is good! We had another rough week, but things are starting to progress a little at least. So Kleber, one of our investigators, is ready to be baptized but, lives with his girlfriend. She has two sons who have been coming to church with Kleber every week for a while now, so we've started teaching them. The mom is less interested. She is catholic. I can understand why she's a little hesitant, she's been catholic all her life, and it's not very easy to just one day drop everything and change. So I think  she will come around with time. But the boys are so great! They read and come to church and are making friends and everything! Both boys and Kleber have the goal to be baptized on the 26th of this month! So cross your fingers. They remind me of my Peruvian family in San Sebastian. I'm excited for them.

So this week we had interviews with President Pace! It was super fun, I always love interviews. Afterwards, they drove us about an hour and a half back to our apartment too. It was SUPER fun to ride with them and get to know them better. They bought us ice cream too. I feel like I've gotten to spend a lot more time with them lately which I really love.

In my interview I told President how we have been struggling to find new people to teach lately. We have been contacting like crazy, as always, but we've been struggling to find people to listen. Hermana Findlay and I weren't really sure what was going on because five weeks ago we found 13 new investigators in a week doing the same stuff we have been doing for the last three weeks. But we have had a struggle of a start to our second transfer here together. But President told me that maybe the Lord wants us to work in a different way. So Hermana Findlay and I decided we were going to try and work more through the members, we had done a ton to try to find through our own efforts, but we were going to try a different approach and see what would happen  if we made more of an effort to visit all the members more frequently in our area.

So this week, three of our less active members that we visited told us about friends they have that would be interested in meeting with us. How cool is that? One guy, Leonardo brought a friend to church yesterday. He said his friend is really interested and wants to start meeting with us the week after next. It's so interesting how the Lord works. We work and work to find people to teach in the street, and then randomly, members bring their friends for you to teach! It just goes to show that if you're working hard, the Lord will provide you with people. I am excited to see what else will come during this transfer. I really love this area.

Oh also funny story. So I know there's some of you out there that think that people wouldn't ever reject cute little missionaries like us (like how that happened to the girl in Elder Hollands talk in conference with being spat on). I would just like to invite you to rethink your ways..  haha.

The other day, we were knocking doors, and there were some fierce people in this building, let me tell you, FIERCE. Anyway we knock on one, no answer. We knock the next, and a very old sounding lady shouts from inside "Yes? Who is it?" over and over again until she made it all the way to her peephole. All of a sudden, the other door on the floor (the one that didn't answer when we knocked it) opens up and an old woman appears and starts shouting "Gladys, DO NOT OPEN YOUR DOOR, DO NOT OPEN YOUR DOOR" and gives us a glare and slams the door. She started talking to her husband about calling the cops on us. So we walked down to the next floor haha.

Anyway, wild things like that happen on a daily basis. Sometimes to start a conversation in the street all I will say is "hola..." all cute and nice and people shake their little finger and walk past. So what I've started doing is saying, "oh, you don't know where this street is?" and then they respond and feel all bad for rejecting me. It's really funny actually. Oh the life of a missionary. It gets wild.

So this week I'll only be in my area three days I think. I'm doing an intercambio and then Hermana Findlay and I get to go to the islands for the weekend for a conference with the executive director of the missionary department for the church. So we're PUMPED about that. I'm loving the work here! It's super warm here, it makes the work easier. Love the sun! Anyway, Love you! Have a great week!

Hermana Reid


They are backwards, but they are cat balloons for hermana porters birthday. who doesnt like a good hanging cat?

I know I'm not as funny as I think I am. it says "why not?"

Zaragoza - Week eight

Hiii Fam!

So first off, not to make you all sensitive, but it's gorgeous weather here lately. I love it. It's been so nice all week. Gah. The best.

Anyway, this week was good! I LOVED conference. So much. It's like Christmas for all the missionaries. We got to watch it in english too, which I was really glad about, it's better in english haha. The only bummer is that we only got to see the Saturday sessions and the womens conference (which was SO good). So were gonna have to figure out how to download all of Sunday cuz we missed it while traveling to Barcelona.

So basically, we had another really humbling week here. It's good for us. It was a pretty rough week contacting, but it's really good to help us remember that this is the work of the Lord. I know the Lord is just trying our faith. Sometimes you have better weeks than others. All that matters is that you keep working hard and push through until you make it to the good weeks. Every hard day that happens just means we are that much closer to seeing some miracles.

So Friday, we took Jessie contacting with us. She told us she wanted to see what our life was like. And let me tell you, she was a MACHINE. Holy cow it was wild. We would be talking to someone, and she would already be off onto the next person. She was incredible. And people really listened to her! So I think she had fun with it. She would not let anyone walk away from her without taking our card first.

This Saturday, we got to watch the Womens conference, which I loved! I cried during one of the songs haha. I've become real sensitive on my mission. I just cry happy tears all the time. Haha. It's fine. Then right after, we saw Saturday morning session and then on Sunday we saw the Saturday afternoon session before we left for Barcelona. I really loved it so much. It's interesting how much it talked about building your foundation and keeping covenants. It's so true though. We see people struggle all the time and it's because their foundation isn't strong in Christ. The gospel is such a blessing. And its so easy to live, you just gotta do it ya know? I can't wait to hear the rest of conference, I'M DYING.

Anyway, Saturday night we went to Barcelona! It's always fun to travel. We got to sleep in the mission home that night. It's suuuppper nice. A couple other Hermanas stayed there as well. That night, we got to see a little bit of conference with President and Hermana Pace, it was fun to be with them!

Then the next day, all the zone leaders and sister training leaders came for c oncilio. I'll be honest I was nervous! I feel so young and new haha but luckily I had Hermana Findlay with me. We talked about how we can help the mission grow and different things that the mission struggles with as a whole that we can improve on. It was a really incredible experience. I love all the meetings in the mission, the are always super spiritual and uplifting. Also guess what?! The cook in the mission home MADE CAFE RIO SALADS. I WAS DYING. Gosh. Literally the best. I've been craving that ever since the last time I ate it. It just felt right, ya know?

So there are 10 sister training leaders. Hermana Findlay and I are the only ones that are companions. President told us they are testing to see how it goes with us haha, the ayudantes called us last night and told us they want our feedback with how it goes working together. It'll be fun. We have 5 intercambios this week, one every week this transfer. All the other ones have 3 I think. So it'll be a crazy transfer! I'm up for the challenge though!!

Anyway, there's not much else about this week, I love you family! Have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Reid

Zaragoza - Week seven

Hi Family!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOMORROW ROCKSTARRRR!! You're the best. I hope you go absolutely wild on your birthday. I know you will. Love you! Your letter is in the mail :)

So let's get real, this week was kinda rough haha. I don't know why, but literally no one wanted to talk to us this week. Haha really though, no one. But you know why? I'll tell you. Just hold on a second, I'll explain it all.

Ok so first off, this week we got transfer calls. All week Hermana Findlay and I were going back and forth guessing what was going to happen. In fact halfway through the week, I decided we were being split. But then we figured we would stay together cuz we've only been here one transfer, but you never know, crazier things have happened. All we knew that was if on Saturday night, we got a call from President, it meant something big was happenening. He only calls if we are training or if we are opening an area or something like that.

So Saturday night we get back to piso and the phone rings immediatley, assuming its our district leader, I looked at it and realized it was PRESIDENT. We were both freakin out. So my companion talked to him for a little bit and then he asked to talk to me. Right off the bat, he told me that we were both staying together. But then he asked if I would be okay with being called as a Sister Training Leader!! I was pumped! Hermana Findlay was jumping up and down. He told me that they wanted to see what would happen if they put two sister training leaders together, like they do with zone leaders because right now all the sister training leaders don't have a sister training leader companion. He said he was going to call me as one anyway, but it just worked out even better that my comp was already a leader too! So we are the guinea pigs I guess haaha. I am super excited about it though! It means I get to go to a meeting with all the leaders and President once a month in Barcelona in the mission home and I will get to do intercambios with other Hermanas throughout the mission every week!

I feel really young still though, I'm the youngest one in the group, and Hermana Findlay and I are the only sister training leaders that haven't trained anyone ever. So I am kind of nervous about it, I hope I do it well. I am SUPER excited about it though. It gave Hermana Findlay and I so much animo about the work. We are so pumped to work super hard this transfer and see some miracles.

Anyway, that's why I think this week was rough. Satan knows that we are ready to work super hard, so this week was an extra challenge. I feel like our faith is being tried, to see if we have the patience to endure. I have never had such excitement to talk to everyone. Even though no one, and really, I mean no one, wanted to listen to us this week, I am grateful for weeks like it because it makes you realize how good the good weeks actually are. It's weeks like these that remind us to be humble, and that this is the Lord´s work. All the miracles we see, are a result of His hand in our life. Every time there are hard days, it's just because really good ones are up ahead. I've learned that a lot. You just have to develop the patience to endure.

I really love this work. I know it is the work of the Lord. I have really learned how the only way to actually find lasting peace and happiness is through this gospel. God´s plan is so perfect, and we are so blessed to have a knowledge of it.

Anyway, sorry that was long. But life is good. It's warm here, I'm excited for conference!! We watch it at really weird times here, I haven't seen the women's one yet, but I cant wait to see it!! Also I'll email next week on Tuesday again I think. I have my first meeting in Barcelona next Monday, so I don't think we will write till Tuesday. Anyway, I love you all!! Have an amazing week!

Hermana Fry Fry

PS this week I read about King Noah and that whole story, (Book of Mormon Chapter 11, 12, and 13 and I couldn't help but laugh the whole time haha. It always reminds me of pageant "fifty nephites can stand against thoouussaanndsss of lammaaannnites.." Good times.  I just wanted to act it out the whole time that I was reading it. My companions always think I'm weird for how obsessed I am with pageant. It's fine, over it.

For the scriptural account about King Noah read the following chapters in The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)