Bring it on!

Went to the Rambla today! Best piso mates ever:)) my companion is the one on the right

Some say, "I do not like to do it, for we never began to build a
temple without the bells of hell beginning to ring." I want to hear
them ring again. -Brigham Young

I LOVE this quote by Brigham Young. I think of missionary work.
Literally nothing about missionary work is easy and Satan is at every
side trying to thwart and destroy the family and religion. But I want
to be like Brigham Young and say BRING IT ON!

My testimony of the gospel grows everyday, and it has grown so much. I
just think of my belief in Jesus Christ before the mission, and then
now, and it's incredible. And I am so excited for General Conference!
What a treat to hear the words of the apostles and our prophet as they
speak to us about Christ. I love this church. I have faith that this
is the only true church and that it was restored by Joseph Smith. I
would say I know, but if I know, then I don't have to have faith. And
my faith is what keeps me anchored. There are so many things I don't
know, but I know that Christ is our Savior and that He lived and died
to fulfill the glorious Plan Of Happiness that has been prepared for
us so that we can be happy with our families forever.

This week in Badalona was pretty exciting.

Number of times we got yelled at by drunk men: 2
Number of time guys were being inappropriate on the metro: 1 (and that
was enough)
Number of times we got sung to by gypsy kids: 1
Number of times a drunk guy stalked us/made faces at us through the
window of a store: 1 (and it was one too many)

I tell you these things because I think it's funny, not because I want
you to think I am going to get mugged, we are actually very safe ;)

Lots of love, Hermana Birch

In the hood

Cool graffiti in the hood.
Dear family and friends,

What an incredible week I've had here, my first one in Badalona! We
got here and I just decided we were going to go-go-go and we saw so
many miracles! It was amazing! My testimony just keeps growing that
when we plan and we tell the Lord where we are going to be, He puts
people in our path! I got here and we had NO visits set up and nothing
to do. So we hit the passby lists and we just went. We planned
beforehand which neighborhoods we were going to go by and I also
really asked for the Spirit to guide us and He did! We found so many
new investigators and we also found/contacted two very inactive
members that we are going to start working with. It was so funny, we
passed by an old investigator from past hermanas, Luis, and he wasn't
home. We were able to get into the building and knock his door though.
So we were about to leave but I just had this feeling that we should
knock the building, even though I really didn't want to, and I figured
we could just go try and finish the rest of the passbys, so we kept
leaving down the stairs, but I had the feeling again (and I remembered
what the Area Seventy said about how inspiration is a thought
confirmed by a feeling) so we went back up and knocked the building!
And we found a new investigator AND as we were leaving Luis, the guy
we had been looking for, popped out of nowhere when I was asking for
directions to the metro. And neither of us had ever met him, and he
gave us the directions, then we left, then he called from behind us
and recognized us as the missionaries!

One thing that's been really hard for me this week was adjusting to a
new companion. It's been really hard doing street contacts and lessons
with her because she's still so uncomfortable in Spanish, and I tend
to just take over and do everything. But I know the only way she's
going to learn is if I let her struggle for the words in the moment
and be patient with her. I'm super excited for what the rest of this
transfer will bring, I'm already learning so much about myself and how
to be a better person. I'm so grateful for the mission!

Also, being in this Ward is such a blessing. The Bishop is awesome and
I just love the people here. Even though it is super ghetto. There's
just a bunch of poor, poor people here. Lots of Muslims, Pakistanis,
gypsies, Africans, everything.

Love, Hermana Birch

We spent our Preparation Day helping someone move!

Gypsies!

Yep that's right, I have been transferred! So sad and so hard to leave my favorite and the most beautiful area of the mission, and guess where I got called to go, Badalona! Which is the most ghetto area of the mission! It's famous for singing, cat-calling gypsies (that are notorious for being homeless, lazy, and drunk). So, that's comforting. Haha, I really am exciting to be here though. I'm finishing the training of my new companion! So she's only been out on the mission for 4 weeks, because this was a short transfer! But she's awesome, her Spanish is already so good, and she seems like an awesome missionary already, I think she came pretrained. ;)

It's so weird to be back in a big city, with a metro, 4 girls in our apartment, 2 wards that meet in our building! It's going to be awesome!

This last week in San Sebastián was so great! I was so nervous all week that I would be getting transferred! I have like a curse, I never have very long, like more than 2 transfers in an area anymore. Also I've had like 5 companions for just one transfer! It's so weird! I think it's because I just get bored, I need that change to switch things up. (Or maybe I'm just an awful companion and no one can handle me for more than 6 weeks...) But change makes me thrive! So I'm so grateful for the chance to grow and change this transfer!

Saying goodbye to everyone was so sad. I only cried a little bit though!

I love the mission so much! I got to talk to some missionaries who have been serving in my old areas today on the train, and I got to ask about my recent converts and my investigators and it's so hear that everyone is doing good! The gospel really has changed these people's lives!

This is Sonia, I taught her in Valencia, she got baptized a several weeks after I left, and apparently she's still going strong and coming to church every week! I love the gospel!

Love you all so much! The church is true, I've never been more sure of it in my life!
Hermana Birch
Hi everyone! This has been a crazy day! I woke up at 5am to take a 7
hour train from Bilbao to Barcelona! Insane!

Lighthouse!

Today we hiked up to this lighthouse!

As far as our area goes and the missionary work we are doing, things are going really well. We contact a lot on the streets and we are finding a ton of people that seem interested, but then later when we call the,m or passby, they are too busy. A few of them seem pretty golden, so we are working with them, it just seems like no one is progressing quickly. Which is kind of frustrating. We are inviting people to be baptized daily, which is something our zone has really been focusing on.

A miracle contact we had the other day was when I contacted a guy, and he immediately started talking to me in English! And he was like, I know you! And I couldn't remember him, but then as we talked to him I realized that me and Hermana Wiseman had talked to him around Christmas time. Hermana Wiseman saw them at the very end of the day as we were walking home and saw that they were taking a selfie and offered to take a picture of them. Something so simple, nothing came of it at that moment, but now we are going to start meeting with him! He's cool. He's from Ecuador!

I'm getting really nervous about transfers this week, I'm scared that I'm leaving! And I really don't want to leave! I love this area and we are seeing so many great things! Also I love working with Hermana Crofts! I don't want to leave!!

Me and Hermana Crofts

sights from the prettiest area of the mission! ;)

So it's been a great week. I'm so grateful for all the members that help us so much. This week we had a family home evening and a convert of like 2 years brought her friend. A member that is putting in his mission papers gave lesson on the atonement after we explained the Book of Mormon, and it was probably the most spiritual lesson Ive ever had in my mission. The investigator was crying. It was so beautiful. The friend of the investigator was testifying of the truth of he Book of Mormon and of Jesus Christ and it was so amazing. That's how missionary work works!

I love you all so much, I'm so excited to be a missionary forever!

Love, Hermana BirchHola a todos!

This week was a crazy week, they just keep flying by so fast! I
started the week off with some weird sickness where I was like feeling
really nauseous and faint and couldn't walk very fast without feeling
sick, so the elders gave me a blessing of health. It was a super
special blessing, my first one in a while, and I felt God's love for
me and that he really does know me. The blessing didn't even talk so
much about my sickness, but about my mission and who I am. It was
really cool, and since the blessing I've been feeling great and back
up to normal!

How Many Awkward Moments Can We Fit Into One Week

Dear family and friends,

How are you all? I hope you're having an awesome week. It's really
cold here. There is snow on the mountains and it's really rainy.
Luckily I bought a pair of rubber rain boots and a member gave us warm
scarves, so we're good to go.

So because it's been raining a lot, it means that we are talking to
lots of people in the rain. But if we can find an open building, we
knock it. So we had just finished knocking a building, and we actually
found some really awesome people there, and we were by the elevator
and a black guy walked in the building, so naturally I started talking
to him. He was super nice and cool, from Ghana, and we said a prayer
right there with him and he said we could visit him another day. So
later in the week, we passed by. His Spanish wife answered the door,
and when we said that we were missionaries she didn't look too
impressed, but she went and got her husband and he let us in! Which
was a big deal, this was the first house I've been let into in 2
weeks! So we were pretty excited! He speaks English. We were on the
sofa with him, and the wife was at the table on her computer. I wanted
to speak in Spanish so that just in case she was listening would
understand and feel the Spirit. Sabes? But the guy would keep
switching to English so it was super weird. Also we are supposed to be
inviting people to be baptized in the first lesson, but his wife was
like there listening, and I don't know how much English she knows, but
I didn't want to like scare her off by asking him to be baptized, so
instead we went from talking about the video we watched, to
introducing him to the Book of Mormon, to talking about the plan of
salvation. Then he said he didn't want or need 2 bibles. Then we told
him he could learn even more about God and receive even more
blessings. And then he was like, I don't even need more blessings.
I've got my house, my wife, my job. I send things to kids from my
country that don't have anything, I'm good. And in my mind I was like,
all we have to give this guy is blessings, what can we do for this
guy?" Anyway there's not like a miraculous end to this story, like he
wants to be baptized or anything but it just goes to show that some
people need more help than you think.

Love you all, Hermana Birch

Opa!

Big holiday, Día de San Sebastián! Doesn't he look like Barney Fife? ;)

Chistorra!! Fancy sausage and cheese in a flour tortilla, they only sell these on holidays!

Los tamboros, drums, in front of the cathedral!

Love, Hermana Birch



Hola! Opa!

Our family from Honduras finally read in the Book Of Mormon on their
own! Their countenances were literally shining! It was so awesome! We
had come in to darles caña (give them the business) and get them
reading, turns they had each read, and they read a lot! And then the
dad came to church on Sunday, for the first time ever, and with his
baby daughter! The mom works on Sunday's, so couldn't make it. But it
was so awesome!

Also, we had a great Family Home Evening with Jacques, and I know he
must have felt the Spirit, because he said that he would commit to
live the Word of Wisdom. We talked about how he needed to give up
coffee and he said he would and he'd drink hot chocolate instead! We
were so happy! But then he kind of fell off the face of the planet for
a few days. So we were suspicious, and he didn't come to church. Well
we met with him last night, and turns out he had drank some coffee,
and for the parties that we were having in the city, he drank some
beer. And he said he won't give them up, he says he doesn't see the
harm. We were really sad. We tried to find out what the real heart of
the problem was, and we realized he hasn't had a change of heart yet.
As great as he is, as knowledgable as he is about God, he is too
prideful to give up these worldly things and follow the word of
wisdom. He kept talking about why coffee and wine are actually good
for you, and we were like, you know what it doesn't matter, all that
matters is that God has told us not to, so what are you going to do?
So he told us he doesn't want a baptismal goal right now, but that he
will keep praying and try to receive an answer. It will be hard to
receive an answer if he's not humble enough to follow what he already
knew to be true.

I love the mission, I learn so much everyday about my weaknesses,
about my Savior and about my purpose.

Miracles

Took our favorite people for their first milkshake ever!

Sorry no time to write! We had interviews in Bilbao today! but I love you all and I love the mission!

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Love, Hermana Birch

Intercambio with my friend from the Mtc!