Us in a bar on our iPads checking emails on preparation day

iPads and what

Hola a todos!

Some fun things are happening in the mission! We got iPads! Kind of
exciting! Kind of weird too haha.

La obra misional es muy duro. It is super hot outside and we aren't
working with that many people, but it's still good. We work really
hard we walk a lot. We talk to lots of people. We have an English
class in the church on Sunday evenings.

This week I'm just really grateful for the members of this ward.
There's a convert of two years who loves the gospel so much. She
shares it with everybody. She was so excited to show us her
certificate from being sealed in the Venezuela temple and she was the
first one to bear her testimony in both sacrament and relief society.
She is such a good missionary, she brought two people to church on
Sunday, that's more than we could get to church!! We are trying to
find people like her in Lleida who are ready to accept and live the
gospel of Jesus Christ.

We have been knocking doors, something that I didn't have to do in
Valencia. So the days feel a lot longer and they're a lot harder to
get through. Haha. We get so many uninterested and then there will be
one golden person but then they work a lot and they can't meet with us
until Saturday which is a long time for us. One lady let us into her
home when we were knocking, that had never happened to me before. She
was super nice. She said that she wanted to know what what we believe
and that she has seen lots of missionaries because she lived by a
chapel in Barcelona.

There was a futbol game and Barcelona won so the city was going NUTS.
People were honking their horns on their cars every time they drove
past this bar right by our piso until like after midnight. It was so
loud!

Holaaaaaa

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Pictures still aren´t working so.....This is an old picture from Valencia. ¨Mormon metro¨. There´s no metro in Lleida, I miss it! 

Querido familia y amigos,

This was my first week in Lleida! Wow, it is so different from Valencia. I actually love this area, it is really pretty. It´s small but it´s cute. There´s a castle! 

As far as missionary work goes though, this area is kind of rough. We haven´t had one lesson with an investigator since I´ve been here, besides contacts we´ve had on the street. That´s so crazy. I´m trying to not let it get me down! What a big change, to go from Valencia which is like the freaking promised land to Lleida, this little town with very little investigators...yet

Oh I´m sick again. We had to go to the doctor to make sure it wasn´t strep. We had to go to Zaragoza which is like an hour away by train. And we had to navigate ourselves to the hospital with the bus system all on our own. DANG THAT WAS HARD It was intense and we spent like the whole day. I was so sick, I was dying. And then we came back home and we had a ward activity that we had to hurry and help the elders finish setting up! It was an intense day, to say the least. But still fun! 

​another old pic APOSTASY (apostasy is whenever missionaries do something that maybe they shouldn´t be doing. like playing ukulele on a park bench with an investigator)

When we were in the train station, my throat was killing me so we went to a restaurant to get an Aquarius (gatorade in europe). It was really expensive so I didn´t get it, but there was a guy sitting there who bought it for me, turns out he´s a member of the church! It was super cool! Like what were the chances of us bumping into a member of the church, I mean we´re in SPAIN, there´s like no members here. Haha, it was awesome. And he was super nice to buy it for me.

Lleida is great. So far we´ve had a Pakistani ask us if we want to smoke with him sometime, someone yell out to us from their car ¨Your church is false! Your church is false!¨ and Hermana O´Neill got hit on by a drunk guy who was obsessed with her blue eyes. We laugh so hard that we cry like three times a day. 

We had a really good lesson with a less active, she´s from Bolivia (I LOVE BOLIVIANS), she is trying to prepare to go to the temple, but she doesn´t come to church on Sundays. So we talked about how Satan always uses the influences of the world, to make us feel like we´re not good enough or we´re not ready. Like how I felt before coming on a mission. Obviously it´s against Satan´s plan for anyone to go to the temple or serve missions. So we just have to find solace in the scriptures and through prayer, and not look to the world to find answers, because the world will tell you that these things that are so important to our happiness in this life and in the life to come, aren´t important at all. 

We´re still trying to find Nigerians or Bolivians to teach here in Lleida. Haha. But really. There are so many MUSLIMS here! It´s ridiculous! And they´re all super nice and willing to listen, but they don´t want to change. It´s so difficult! Also can you send me the wikipedia article about what Muslims believe. I really want to know. I have an idea but I´d like an article. 

Also I come into this area right, and apparently there is a bus system here, but we don´t know how to use it. Like we don´t know when the buses come and we don´t know where to get a bus map, so we just WALK everywhere. It´s crazy. But it´s really fun. Like Sunday morning we walked 40 MINUTES to pick up an investigator to come to church with us, and then we get there and she DROPPED us. Which means she´s not interested anymore, she prefers the Testigos de Jehovah. (Jdubs, Jehovah Witnesses). 

Also church was really fun, I didn´t have to play piano or teach a lesson. But wow, so sad to hear about L. Tom Perry. He´s so cute. Me and Hermana Oneill are super sad. Our district thinks Tad McAllister is the next apostle. Puede ser.

Anyway, I love you all! If you have time, send me your favorite Conference talk, old or new. Something that would help me as a missionary! I love you!!

Con amor,

Hermana Birch

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Hermana Birch

Spain Barcelona Mission

C/ Calatrava 10 -12 bajos

Barcelona, 08017

España

Transfer calls!

Wow no pictures again this week! It´s not working!

But big news!! I´m in LLEIDA!!

Leaving Valencia was so hard, we left this morning. Ahh, I cried so much saying goodbye to all the members and investigators. Valencia is literally the BEST area you could be in and I know I´m going to miss it so much.

My new companion is actually my friend Hermana O´Neill, we did intercambios together my first transfer when I was still in training. She picked me up in Barcelona this afternoon then we took the train to Lleida! She told me that I seem a lot happier now than I was when I was in my training! Haha, being trained and adjusting to missionary life and Schedule is super rough, I feel bad that that´s all she remembered about me. But she says I´m so different now and she loves it! Haha, so that´s good. She´s only one transfer ahead of me in the misión, so we are a very new companionship!!

When I got my call that I was going to Lleida everyone said that it smells bad here and that there´s no Nigerians  (worst news ever, I love Nigerians) and that it´s really small. There used to be 4 elders here but they just took 2 out, so our area just got LOTS bigger! So that will be fun!! I´m super stoked, Hermana O´Neill and I get a long super well and I´m PUMPED! Also I thought I had just escaped the Valencia heat, apparently not, it´s super hot here in Lleida, too!!

I think a miracle we had this week was just the fact that my Spanish has improved by leaps and bounds in the last 2 weeks. I feel much more comfortable with my spanish, I can understand basically everything (except the darn Spaniards that speak a million miles an hour with their crazy accent that is still so hard to understand). I am so much more confident than I have ever been in my Spanish.

Hermana Lamoreaux was the best companion I could have asked for to show me the ropes of the misión, to help me with my Spanish and to teach me how to work hard. And now I´m here in Lleida, it´s totally different than Valencia in SO many ways but I know it´s going to be great. I´m ready to work super hard here and build up this area the best that I can and do whatever is in my power to help build the Lord´s kingdom in this little town.

As far as our area in Valencia was this week, we had to say goodbye to lots of investigators, not just me but Hermana Lamoreaux too because yes, she´s staying, but they´re taking elders out of Valencia as well so HER area also just got much bigger and she lost a big chunk of her area as well. And she´s training again and whitewashing (because she took the other elder´s whole area) which is exactly what she did with me. She´s a CHAMP!

My favorite thing about this week was how much LOVE I feel for the people in Valencia. When I first got there in the end of January I was super selfish. I found it very hard to love the people, to love the area and to love the misión. But as I was saying goodbye, as I bore my goodbye  testimony at church on Sunday and as people were so kind to me as I was leaving, I felt so much love and I realized how much I have come to love them and love serving them. Being a member of the true church is such a privilege. I just LOVE being a Mormon. I love what we stand for. I love being a missionary.

I love you all, thanks for your love and prayers!

Con amor,
Hermana Birch

--

Hermana Birch

Spain Barcelona Mission

C/ Calatrava 10 -12 bajos

Barcelona, 08017

España

more pics

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Maravilloso!

Querido Familia y Amigos,

A miracle we had this week was that yesterday after church I was just feeling super tired and super stressed and kind of down. At church I still struggle with talking to the members in Spanish, also the ward choir is singing at a baptism of an 8 year old this Saturday and so they needed me to play piano and it´s a hymn that is hard for me to play. So like we were practicing singing it with me playing it and I kept messing up and I couldn´t get it right. I was just really frustrated and frustrated that I still have a hard time speaking Spanish with the members. So I came home for Mediodia and just took a nap and relaxed. And when  we went out again we only had one set visit and then we were just going to do passbys after. And that just makes the day go by super slow and it can be frustrating as well. But I prayed and asked God to help me feel excitement in the work and that I would feel happy. And so the one visit we had set up was someone that the other Hermanas had contacted, so we didn´t know her. So we stop by the house and this guy says she´s sleeping right now. And then Hermana Lamoreaux said well can we come back in 30 minutes, and he was like, well hold on, and then he was like, okay she´s actually up now.  So we come up and it´s this CUTE family from the Dominican Republic. Johanna and her cuñado Lewware. And then someone else came in for a sec, just to tell us that his Mom was a member. But then he left. So we teach Johanna and Lewware about the Book Of Mormon and then Lesson 1 about the Restoration. And Johanna was like, So what do I need to do to be baptized!!?? Now they both have fechas and they both said they would read in the Book Of Mormon before our next visit. They´re super cute and invited us over to eat with them, that they´ll make us Dominican food. 

This visit was just what I needed to revitalize my spirits that day!! I know that God has a work for us to do. It´s a marvelous work and a wonder, but yes it is a WORK. 

Sorry no pictures this week! My companion dropped my camera. A member gave me one to use (so nice of them) but the memory card I already have doesn´t fit in it. So yeah, kind of a problem.

I love you guys lots! Have a good week!

Con amor,

Hermana Birch

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Let´s get down to business

Hola todos!! Como estan??

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This is our cute investigator, and her 18 year old son in the back, and her other son who is like 1 years old. Next to me is a member (he´s from Honduras, Dad), who always helps the missionaries, like literally all day every day. He´s the best. He´s literally a missionary, just without the chapa. She made us these super strange empanada type things called sitrenas or something. She´s from Bolivia. 

Transfers is tomorrow and me and Hermana Lamoreaux are staying together!! WHOO! I´m so happy! We were SO sure that I was leaving since my training is over, but President really didn´t switch around like any of the Hermanas this transfer! I´m so glad I´m staying! I love Valencia!! Our ward is amazing, during Testimony meeting there´s NEVER a lull in the testimonies. We actually sang a quartet of Mas Cerca Dios de Ti (Nearer My God To Thee) with the Elders after I bore my testimony, the bishop said we could because Elder Edwards is leaving. It was cool. 

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The other Hermanas that live with us in our piso have had two baptisms so far. Me and Hermana Lamoreaux have been working so hard and we haven´t had a baptism yet. It´s super frustrating. But we have been really good at just staying focused and doing the work. Hermana Lamoreaux is an incredible missionary, I´m so lucky to have her as my companion. 

​Doner kebab. Pakistanis here own these shops where they sell this like meat burrito. It´s everywhere, there´s like one on every corner. The meat is on like this rotating thing all day long and he scrapes it off with an electric knife and then puts it on your sandwich. Kbab is super popular, it´s like a rite of passage that you have to try one as a missionary. So I did. I´m not a fan. My companion and Patrick made me eat one though. It wasn´t good. The meat is super low quality, that´s why they cook it on a pendulum thing all day cause it´s like that cheap and it disguises the flavor or whatever- i don´t know but there´s a reason these don´t exist in the USA. Haha.

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I am literally Mulan. Listen. That song ¨Let´s get down to business¨ (is that what it´s called?) My two transfers in the field I was like Mulan in the beginning of that song. When she´s like running up the mountain with the water pail and she´s too tired so the tough guy has to take it for her. Or when she´s like trying to climb the pole with the metal things and she keeps falling. Yes, that´s been me that last 12 weeks. But the last week has been super incredible, like I think I´m finally adjusted to missionary life. Like I don´t think you can ever be completely adjusted but like, it´s normal now and it´s comfortable. And at night when we´re running to the metro so we can get home by 10 and I´m fiddling with my purse to get my wallet out while we´re running, like I´m able to keep up with my companion, and I know which metro we´re about to get on and I don´t feel lost. And like during lessons (especially the English ones) I feel like I don´t struggle as much and me and my companion take turns talking, instead of her just taking over. Like I´m not the silent companion. 

We had a really cool experience this week, I wrote about it in my letter to President:

Dear President, 

We had such an amazing week! I am learning so much on my mission. For a while I felt like I was in a slump spiritually. So this week I really focused on more meaningful prayer and I have seen the fruits of it! Wow, I love it so much. I actually have been praying to know when I am sinning, so that I can repent of it. Like sometimes I covet other missionaries´ success or I lose faith because I´m struggling with the language and then I lose the Spirit. But I forget to work on these things because they´ve become so natural. So just asking God to help me recognize when I´m doing things that will lead the Spirit away has helped me alot and I feel so much more love and I have a better vision of my purpose here for our friends who we are trying to teach the gospel. The Lord has definitely a lot of love for his people here in our area of Valencia. I can see that and I know it´s true. Something cool that I absolutely love about the mission so far, for me personally, is that so many of our friends remind me of people that I love back home or even people that I used to know. Like almost every single one of our investigators, has similar traits and qualities (physical and spiritual) that remind me of a friend I have back home and it makes me love that person that much more! I think it´s Heavenly Father´s gift to me to help me remember that He loves all His children. I love it!

I´m sure I´ll be the third person to tell you about this miracle we had, so I´ll keep it short. But we were on the metro, in a trio with Hna Reid, and we sat in front of a lady. I noticed her when we first sat down and I smiled at her and said hi. But she looked super sad, like usually people don´t look exactly thrilled when they´re sitting on the metro, but she looked kind of distraught. And I thought we should talk to her. But we were looking at our agendas and we were talking about the lesson we were on our way to teach, and I didn´t talk to her. Luckily Hna Reid is in tune with the Spirit and follows promptings, and she started talking to her. The lady was like ¨sois angéles¨ and Hna Reid was like, actually we´re missionaries from the Church Of Jesus Christ. Then the lady freaked out, like literally stamped her foot on the ground and put her face in her hands for a few seconds and was like shaking a little bit, and then Hna Reid like stood up to be closer to her, and the lady looked up at us and she was crying!! She explained to us that we were dressed in white and we descended into the metro like angels and that we were white and we were united with a heavenly sword. She kept saying you guys are angels! She was like ¨you guys are fighting God´s war¨. We missed our metro stop because we were talking to her and she gave us her number. That was just yesterday and we haven´t any contact with her since. It was super interesting, Hna Lamoreaux was like, I´ve never had an experience like that before on the mission! 

This week for the first time, I´ll tell you, I love being a missionary!!

Todo bien,

Hermana Birch

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