Sant Tomás

My companion spent about 45 minutes on Tuesday getting lice out of my hair. Yep, that's right. I got lice. We have no idea how. It was super gross and itchy.

The work here in Donostia is going really great. We love it here. We have so many awesome investigators. On Monday night we visited Niña and she had been waiting for us and had made us Dominican dinner! All setup and everything!

Also we took our best friend Kenneth (he's Nigerian) to get milkshakes. Unfortunately those don't exist in Spain so we got McFlurrys instead.

There is a black man in the ward named Bro West who took us out for Chinese. He has a selfie like this with all the hermanas that have ever served here.

He is so funny. He was like "I learned the hard way that if you want something to be kept quiet, don't tell the missionaries". Haha. Also he will not tell anyone where he's from. It's super weird. I asked him where he was from and he said "I'm from the Celestial Kingdom". I thought he was Nigerian, but then I started talking to him in Pigeon English and he didn't understand so I think he might be American.

I have had some really awesome experiences as I've been learning more about Jesus Christ. I've been reading Jesus The Christ and I love how it talks about how Christ was tempted. That's how he can succor us, he knows what it's like to be tempted. The devil tempted Jesus after he had been fasting for 40 days. I love how focused and consecrated Christ was to His purpose. He knew what He needed to do and He was subject to His Father. He wasn't swayed by the devil.

There are ton of members in our ward that are from Honduras, but still no one is from San Pedro Sula, they're all from the capital! I love being with Hondurans, I always tell them about Dad.

Being Christmasy this week we made sugar cookies. And then we sang karaoke at the ward party, which was super fun!

I am so grateful for the gospel. I love how almost all the people in our ward are converts! Their stories are amazing. Our bishop is from Congo and the missionaries contacted him 25 years ago in Barcelona, when he still couldn't really speak Spanish.

I hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas!
Love, Hermana Birch

Nuggets of wisdom from this week:
Nigerians think it's super funny when you start talking to them in
their broken English language, Pigeon English.
Doesn't matter if you're traveling abroad or if you are a missionary
in a foreign place, just pretend you know what you're doing -Hermana
Wiseman
Making tortilla de patata, not as easy as you had hoped.
Singing karaoke at the Ward Christmas Party really ups your coolness
level among ward members and they will invite you to their secret cake
party in the middle of Sunday school

Feliz Navidad! Or as we say in Basque Country, Eguberri!

Today is a fun Basque holiday! Everyone is dressed up in shepherd
clothing, there's sausage stands, street performers, cheese, and lots
of alcohol. It's really cool.

Goodbye Granollers

This is Arturo and his family. We have a family home evening with them every week since my very first week. They cook us dinner, we eat and then we share a message. My first few weeks Arturo wouldn't even stay to talk with us as. Sometimes he would cook, but normally he would just take his son and go to another room. He's not a member but his wife and daughter are. I want to see him baptized and going to the temple so bad. The hermanas before us had already tried teaching him and you could tell that he was very cold with us because of that. I decided I would just love him and talk to ho, and joke around with him. He's so funny and always wears shirts with American cities on them, so I would always talk to him about it and really joke around. He started really being open with us and talking to us. Turns out that his mom made him go to seminary when he was younger in Bolivia, so he knows a lot about the church. But I never pushed. He starred cooking for us really delicious meals, and I always really complimented his food. He became a really good friend. And now when we visit he always stays out to talk to us and he cooks and serves us food. Last night I had to say goodbye to this dear family that I love so much. It was so hard.

My heart was bursting, they gave me a bracelet and the daughter Dari made me cupcakes. I cried so much.

Also saying goodbye to this girl was rough. She has become SO strong and her heart has truly changed. When I first met her, she suffered with depression, wouldn't pray or read her scriptures, but now she does and she wants to start coming back to church. As a goodbye present she made me this red headband, it matches my coat! She is so amazing, I love her sooooo much! What an amazing person!

This was a barbecue we did on Sunday. Mariano invited us. He's from Romania. I love him and his wife Rosa soooo much. They are so loving and sweet. They aren't even members but we do family home evening with them every week. This was a special bbq we did with them in this land that they just found and tore down all the trees themselves. Haha. They're awesome. Totally going to baptized one day.

Well this morning I woke up at 4:30 and took a train to Barcelona, and got another train from Barce to Bilbao! YES! I'm serving in the north and it is gorgeous. My new companion is awesome, she and I are going to have an amazing time together. We live in this super fancy city. This is in front of our apartment:

Last time with Carlos and family! Going to miss them!

I love the mission! God is real and answers our prayers!
Hermana BirchI had no idea but this week turned out to be my last week in
Granollers! They called us Saturday so I had Sunday and Monday to say
goodbye. It was so hard saying goodbye! I love these people so much.
My heart just was bursting.

Paella for Thanksgiving

Christ serving his disciples.

Have an awesome week!
Hermana Birch

We totally ate the best paella of my life on thanksgiving day, but I
forgot to take a picture! Paella is Spanish rice with seafood, or
chicken, or both. Josefa made it for us and it was sooooo good. I ate
two big plates. It was the first paella that I have liked! Haha Josefa
is amazing, she cooked it just for us two. It had octopus, calamari,
chicken, steak, mussels. Amazing.

Ugh I've been so bad with taking pictures this week! I know I know,
I'm sorry! I promise pictures next week!

This week was really rough. We got some more fake numbers. My feet
were literally frozen last night because we got stuck waiting outside
for a train for 30 minutes at like 9:30 at night and it was probably 5
degrees C. Sorry don't know what that would be in Fahrenheit. But it
was cold.

We had a zone conference with mission president in Barcelona (awesome
conference, LOVE The Daytons) and afterwards they gave us the flu
shot. Well, the next day I got sick. We still went out and worked
after mediodia, but we rested in the morning. So today we didn't go do
anything fun, we just went shopping for groceries and then I slept all
day.

We have been visiting the ward members in their homes, mostly out of
necessity. Because if we don't we are out in the cold, literally. I
love visiting the members. Some of them really need our visits. Lots
of them are less active, lonely, or going through a rough time. They
are just as important sometimes as our investigators. The
investigators we had have dropped us and the other ones were
apparently too busy to meet this week.

The the Zone Conference Hermana Dayton talked about the importance of
thinking positive. And President Dayton and the Assistants talked
about how we need to be consecrated missionaries. I love it when we
learn about that. I feel like it's a common theme. I want to be that
Consecrated missionary. Totally focused on the work, left my "nets"
behind, like Peter James and John.

My companion is awesome. We aren't probably as close as friends as we
should be. That's definitely my fault. She kind of intimidates me I
guess. Her family has lots of money, she's really happy and serves me
a lot in piso (apartment) by cleaning and cooking and doing dishes.
Especially when I was sick last night after freezing my toes off, she
brought me herbal tea, toast and galletas (crackers...) in bed.

My favorite thing about my mission right now is the members. I feel so
close to many of them. I feel so loved by them, but I think they also
feel loved by us. When we are in their homes for an eating visit, or
just to stop by, they open up to us so much. They are awesome people.
They teach me so much. Their lives are filled with faith and
sacrifice.

The Christmas website and video for this year has come out! I love it!
Www.Christmas.mormon.org

This is what I look at everyday.

Family Home Evening!

She's from Mexico.

I'm so grateful for the members and miracles here. We are all missionaries!

Love, Hermana Birch

Hola a todos!

We had an awesome miracle this week with Rosa! Our investigator from
Bolivia! I was super nervous to do this, but we decided to teach her
about Family Home Evening and then invite her and her husband to have
one this week. Her Romanian husband, we didn't know very well, never
really had talked to him, but he said we could do it and he would
participate! So we said we would bring a treat, and he could share a
spiritual thought and then Rosa was in charge of the game. So we
arrived to their house Saturday night and he said he actually wasn't
very religious and didn't have a thought, so instead we shared the
thought, no pasa nada, and we played a game and had a treat (Rosa made
one too) and it was super fun! And then at the end he invited us to a
barbecue and that we could do another FHE next week! We ran out of
that visit screaming and jumping because of how well it went. Mariano
is this huge Romanian guy, so he kind of intimidated us, but he was
SUPER.

Then Rosa came to church the next morning, Mariano drives her, helps
her with her baby and the stroller out of the car, but then leaves.
And in gospel principles Rosa said she really would like for him to
join her at church, but she says little by little with him. We will
keep doing the FHE and everything to slowly warm him up to the church.
LOVE THAT FAMILY.

I've been thinking a lot lately of my brothers, I hope all four of
them are preparing and planning to serve missions. The best thing you
can to do prepare is read The Book Of Mormon daily and really
strengthen your testimony of it.

It's really super cold now in Granollers. I had an intercambio this
week with my Sister Training Leader. She came here to my area!

Movie night

Last night was super super cold and we were in one of our pueblos (small town outside of our city) and we had about two hours until our next visit. So we were just walking around in the freezing cold. There was nobody in the streets and it was dark even though it was only like 6. I felt miserable because I was cold and we didn't have anything to do. We couldn't get into an apartment building to knock, so it was just bad. Luckily God really does watch over his missionaries. We said a prayer, I asked that we could find something to do and find some one who would accept us so we wouldn't just be here in the pueblo wasting our time. And then we literally followed the Spirit walking in the dark cold until we found a house and rang the doorbell. The houses in this neighborhood had gates and then the driveway. So the person had to come out the door and up the driveway to the gate to come talk to us. And a Spanish girl came out, our age, and she was super sweet. She wasn't interested at first but after we talked a little bit about God and we prayed with her she said we could come back and she's usually home in the mornings! When we most need visits!

And then we went on our way to a movie night we had planned with a less active. She had her friend over and we watched the hour long Joseph Smith movie. She bought me canapés (Bolivian cheese roll) because she knows how I love them. I just have grown to love her so much.

Also my new companion got to meet our two Spanish grandmas we have here in Granollers. Maria Jesús, who feeds us every single week and comes to church without fail even though she can't barely walk. She had breast cancer, she has no living family, she never was blessed to have kids but she is one of the funniest, happiest people I know and she has the strongest testimony I have ever seen.

And Josefa. Who also feeds us every single week, never went to school when she was younger, her kids aren't super active in the church, she gets super nervous giving talks at church but she loves serving us, never lets us help do dishes because she says it's a blessing to her that we come to her house.

I learn so much everyday, I'm seeing lots of miracles and Gods's hand in what we do. Do people always answer their phones? No. Do people cancel visits like all the time? Yes. But the most important thing is that we are doing what we can to help people understand and enjoy the gospel. It's not always easy but it's so fulfilling!

Con amor
Hermana Birch



Hello everybody

Well this week has just been great. My new companion is just a big
bundle of sunshine and rainbows, super positive and happy ALL the
time. She is so happy to be here because we have so many
investigators, we have a ton of potential in this area. It's so great
I feel so blessed.

New transfer!

She is awesome she is from Arizona. Hermana Handy.

We had a great week, saying goodbye to a companion is always hard. But it's another opportunity to learn and grow And change!

Last picture with Hermana Canales :( She has been a dream companion! Always doing the dishes, folding my clothes, making my bed and super chill but super hard worker and we had lots of unity :)

We had an awesome barbecue with a recent convert! The one that lives in the theatre, it was awesome!

Also we had our ward activity!

It was super great except we didn't have a great turnout, but overall it was super fun and super spiritual. We set up 3 classrooms, one for each kingdom of glory and we had games in the rest of the church. There were worldly games and spiritual games but no one noticed that the different coins they earned would get them to which kingdom. We set up the celestial kingdom with lights and everyone brought food and we made it really beautiful. The other kingdoms were dark and only had biscuits. And in the end we all made it to the celestial kingdom thanks to the atonement of Jesus Christ. It was really great.

Our bishop was mission president in Colombia in the 90s and he invited two of his ex missionaries to come speak in our ward. One is from Utah and he's a Kirkham so we might be cousins! Haha. His wife was there too, she didn't speak Spanish, she served a mission in Taiwan. They have 6 kids all young and came to Spain just them two just to visit our bishop :) so cool right?

We literally don't have time to write today so I'm sorry, but I love you all!

Love, Hermana Birchj Queridos familia y amigos,

I have a new companion!

The Rain In Spain

Saturday morning was awesome. We were on our way to visit Rosa, her husband is Romanian, but she's from Bolivia. And at the bus stop we ran into a member. She was on her way home from her morning job cleaning floors, and I felt like we should ask her to come with us to our visit. So I did, even though I totally didn't want to because I knew she was tired, but she came happily and Rosa, the investigator, came to church on Sunday for the first time ever! And the member that had came with us fellowshipped her and introduced her to other members! It was like a dream come true! I usually get so stressed on Sundays worrying about the investigators but we didn't have to worry at all. I feel like God really does know who we are teaching and wants them to feel good at church.

I felt the Spirit really strong this week when we were in the chapel having a visit with Lamin from Senegal (the Muslim). Honestly, teaching him is so frustrating. Like he speaks Spanish, just he can't understand everything, especially gospel things, so we teach SUPER simply. We decided to have a lesson just about Jesus Christ, because Muslims don't believe that Christ is the Savior. But what I love about Lamin is that he is so sincere, he really really loves everything we teach him. I have the gospel art book on my iPad so we were just flipping through the pictures of Jesus' life, and talking about them and when we got to the Atonement, I just started crying. I have learned so much about the Gospel on my mission, it has been such a wonderful gift to be here. I can't even explain how I felt, but it was really neat. And at the end of the lesson, Lamin prayed! I love it when people pray for the first time, it's so amazing.

We went to Barcelona today and we walked the Rambla and the food market! We loved it, it's soooo cool! There were a ton of tourists, I heard lots of English people!

After walking around this huge indoor market with every food imaginable- empanadas, fried fish, smoothies, gelato- we decided to go find a burger place that a member had told us about! Hermana Canales is obsessed with burgers. Haha

Lots of love,
Hermana BirchIt was really awesome to have some of our investigators at church this
week! The church is so true! We are teaching an African woman, and we
walked to church with her. We teach lots of Africans because they are
so humble and teachable. They have a strong belief in God. Her name is
Inmaculada, or Immaculate in English. She is like 60 but every time we
meet with her she runs out of her house to greet us and she's always
dancing. She's so cute!