#6

AHHH. So much has happened this week it´s crazy! I don´t do well at writing in my journal so I hope I can remember some of it (I need to get better at journal writing!).  Oh man, so first off this last week for p-day we went to the mall and shopping and it was a blast!  They have fantastic stores here...anyway. Also I need to mention that once a week, every Wednesday we teach an English Class!  It is the best thing ever!  We teach the more advanced people, so they know english fairly well.  Also most of them aren´t members of the church, so it gives us a great opportunity to talk about the gospel and show videos of church humanitarian projects and share scriptures, and all in the language i know! Ha, i joked that it´s the one hour in the week where i feel completely comfortable and know what´s going on. It´s great!    Also we got to go out to a pueblo called Aguadulce, we have to take a 30 minute bus ride to get there and ah- it is breathtakingly gorgeous! It is right by the ocean (well i´m always right by the ocean, but in Aguadulce the whole place just feels more beachy/touristy) and wow...it´s just amazing.  As we were walking through the streets and up little hills and looking over the ocean searching for some people on an old ward list we had one of those ´´We´re in Spain preaching the Restored gospel and assisting in the work of SALVATION´´ moments.  We´re so blessed in every sense.  Also we got a few new investigators- one experience was absolutely hilarious! I hope i can convey the feelings of awkwardness and hilariousness over email. Probably not.  Ha, but i´ll try.  So this last friday night ALL of our citas (appointments with people) fell through and so did all of our back ups.  So we had goals to meet and we just went to a building in our area and started knocking doors...well we got denied a lot and it was funny to hear people´s excuses as to why they couldn´t talk to us now or later..like old old ladies telling us they´re taking care of their sick mothers and i was just like, Is your mom even alive still?! But haha, anyway we knocked on this one door, and i had knocked and the door was more hollow than i thought so the knock was unintentionally loud and rude.  But a lady answered and Hermana Crockett gave the door approach saying we are missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and had a message for her about Jesus Christ.  Well she said come in- MILAGRO! Ha, so we were kinda surprised and happy and as we walk in I saw one of the little girls from our primary and she jumps up to hug me, i was so confused! Then we saw her mom...then her dad. Haha we had knocked the door of the mother of someone in our ward! I dont know why but it was just hilarious!  And she´s actually not a member!!! So we taught her and their family and set up another cita and yeah, it was awesome!

The members here are so amazing and feed us so well and often!  It is a blast going to their houses and eating their amazing food and attempting to understand what they´re saying and trying to respond to the questions they ask me!  Their gospel insights are awesome, and i learn so much from them.  And i´ve really only had one sketchy experience with food...and it wasn´t even that bad i just didnt really know what i was eating! Which is fine i guess..i need to get out of my comfort zone.  I even found myself loving their bacon (which i usually dont like) because i actually recognized what i was eating! Haha..and my ¨no soda¨ streak got broken a couple weeks ago.  Almost went four years. But it´s worth it and i´ve only had to drink it 5 times, most of the time they have water also! 

Oh and for the last month I have been sleeping without a pillow.  People in the CCM told me it´s better for your back, so that night i ditched the pillow and haven´t gone back since...but someone should google that since i can´t and tell me if it´s true that it´s better for you. Hahah.

Okay so hard experience this last week.  It´s been a way weird week actually.  So many odd things happened.  We got a call from an unknown number of someone saying they wanted to be baptized, so of course i was a little skeptical and wondered if maybe it was anothere missionary in our district, but then i thought ´´Hermana Miller don´t be immature, this is missionary work, no missionary is gonna call during prime proselyting time and go on with some story about wanting to be baptized and give us fake info...´´ so yeah he mentioned that he had met our district leader before, so we called him and told him to go look for this address and he went and looked for an hour and a half, and found nothing. So then later our zone leaders called and long story short iit was them! They didn´t mean for it to go so far as to waste peoples proselyting time...but it did and it was a weird experience.  Next weird one, a missionary in my district went home.  We just got a call one day and his companion told us he was back in the U.S.  Then another companionship in our district had a baptism the next day and avoiding all the crazy crazy details it got cancelled and i´m not sure if or when the baptism will happen.  I felt and kind of still feel a pain about that that is up there with some of the hardest times of my llife.  I can´t even describe it,  i felt like i got hit by a truck.  Oh man, i just desire so badly for this young man to have all the blessings Heavenly Father has for him...Agency is such a hard thing, it is so sacred but it´s difficult because whether or not we choose to accept and live by the gospel principles, these principles apply to us, and to everyone else in the world. I can´t even imagine how desperately our Father in Heaven wants us to choose the right and return to live with Him.  The best part, the greatest thing about this gospel is that hope is never lost!  We are never too far away, and can always turn back to our Father in Heaven, no matter where we´re at in our lives and choices.  His arms are always extended towards us, and He is always right there beside us.  We just need to turn ourselves to Him, by doing small things to show Him we want Him in our lives, like simply praying or opening up the scriptures.  Last night as i was thinking about this young man and was kind of sad about it, i just said a little prayer in my heart, and asked Heavenly Father to help me feel better.  I sat up in bed and looked at my amazing blanket Hannah (one of my very best friends and the one updating this blog for me) me.  She wrote scriptures and inspriring quotes from prophets and other awesome people on it, i read over some but still felt empty.  Then my eyes went to one that talked about the Saviors love and healing touch (i can´t remember it exactly but i´ll write it on here next week) and my heart just filled with love and gratitude and knowledge that the Savior loves me, and all of us.  It just showed me that we only need to take a few simple steps, saying a small prayer in our hearts, and the Savior is right there, always willing to comfort us. 

I am grateful for this gospel, and for my Saviors love for me, the people of Spain, and all of us.

Love, Hermana Miller