you all. After Christmas day though, it was back to missionary work.
Mostly studying. I´m learning lots of spanish and it´s really coming
along. I think I might even finally be able to understand the Spanish
prayers back home in the ward. We pray in spanish, sing hymns in
spanish, it´s great. There´s a hymn not in the English hymn book, it´s
number 88 in the Spanish one. I really like it. You should look it up.
We sing it a lot. I´m glad you guys got to go to Ohio!! That´s so
cool! And thanks for your email Tyler, I loved it!! I wish I had time
to write each of you back individually but I don´t!! So just know that
I love and read all the emails! I had a good learning experience this
week. On Saturday night after we had gone to the Parque, we had a TRC
which is a ´lesson´ with your ´investigator´. We didn´t preprare at
all for it really and just thought we could wing it. And it went
horribly. Our ´investigator´ was not receptive, she was very curt with
us, I couldn´t think of anything to say. I felt so discouraged after.
My spanish had failed me and the Spirit had failed me. But I realized
it was my own fault. I had failed to utilize the Spirit. We hadn´t
prayed before our lesson and we hadn´t prepared so it came out exactly
as it should have. Also this week, I got really sick. It started with
a sore throat and then it just got worse and I lost my voice for 3
days, so that was fun. I asked the Elders for a blessing for the sick
last night and now I´m doing a lot better. I love our Elders and I
love that they use their Priesthood. I took a nap during Sports
yesterday to rest and hopefully I don´t miss out on our P Day today,
we´re going out to the city again today. Last P Day we went to this
sword store and this futbol store in the center of Madrid. It was very
busy because it was the day before Christmas Eve. There were so many
street performers and entertainers, it was insane and so much fun.
It was such a fun Christmas, I mean I missed you guys, but they
treated us so well. I love the European candy and chocolates. They are
sooo good and so much better than American! At the park on Saturday me
and my companion got to talk to a lot of people. It´s always so nerve
wracking talking to people but the Spaniards are very patient with us
and very kind, usually. Haha some people dont give us the time of day
but that´s okay. The night before we go to the Parque they give us
motivational speech, I guess. They tell us not to worry about what
people think, and how to be brave and talk to people and they tell us
things we should say and encourage us to make lots of goals to talk to
a lot of people and give out the pass along cards and Book of Mormons.
One of the guys, is a bishop here, and he only speaks Spanish, so they
translate what he says to english for us, one of the other teachers
does, and he always gets so animated with his motivational speeches.
It´s great. I would follow that guy into a war. He always gets me
super pumped up. And then we get on the metro and we all kind of get a
little scared. But I say a prayer in my heart and I´m able to speak to
people. We always can make them smile if nothing else. And that´s all
that matters. If I can help one person feel just a little bit happier,
then I´ve done my job.
In the back one of the pictures is one of my teachers. Hermano Rissi.
He´s so cool. He´s from Portugal and speaks 3 languages. His English
is so good, he sounds like he could be American. He doesn´t have an
accent. All my other teachers don´t speak English, or they do but very
little. I love it when my teacher Hermano Ponsoda tries to speak
English. It´s so funny, he´s so sweet. People here at the MTC (or CCM)
are so aweosme. They all speak so many languages and they´re so smart
and they´re all RMs. They´re just awesome I love them. Hermano Rissi
is one of my ¨investigators¨ too. He was Hugo. I love teaching him.
Now he´s Renato though. And Renato was someone he taught on his
mission. Renato was obsessed with the sister missionaries so it´s
really funny when we teach him because he winks at us and gives us
chocolate. Haha. It´s great. Missionary work is so great. In my
setting apart blessing it said that I would recognize the magnitude of
my calling on my mission, and not to shrink away from it or be scared
but to embrace it. And I have been thinking alot about that lately. I
do recognize the magnitude of my calling. Also it said that when I get
sick to call upon the priesthood, that´s why I asked for a blessing
from the Elders, or else I might not have. Thanks for your prayers in
my behalf. Thanks for your love! I look forward to writing to you guys
all week! Oh one of the elders, when I couldn´t play futbol yesterday,
said I would be missed and that I am a valuable asset on the team. I
love playing futbol with all the other missionaries here. It´s so much
fun. And natives always come and join us. It´s so fun, they´re so much
better than us. Also we had an audience one time. A bunch of south
americans were sitting on the steps with their radio blasting, eating
their lunches and watching us and cheering and yelling whenever
something happens. It was awesome. I had to go buy contact solution
and shampoo at this little mercado. I wish I would have brought some
from USA everything is so expensive and in Spanish here and I can´t
really read the labels! There has been NOTHING so far of brands that I
recognize from the USA its crazy. When I come back home and speak
Spanish I´ll have the awesome ¨lisp¨. It´s so fun, i love it. Every
´z´´, ´ce´ or ´ci´ is said like a ´th´. It´s the best. The food here
is still really good. Last night for dinner we had noodle soup, egg
casserole/omelet, and egg rolls. yum. also salad. And for breakfast
today I had a croissant with nutella and a banana. We eat really well
:) We also eat a lot of chocolate. We like to go to the mercado and
find new chocolate to try. And so when we go up to our rooms to change
or get something we always eat a piece of chocolate. Haha. The elders
bought matching christmas sweaters at the mall. It was the best thing
ever. They lit up too. They´re so goofy. Ok I gotta go but I love you
all so much!! Love, Hermana Birch
