Leaving for Spain

This is it! My last p-day in the MTC! My whole district got our visa's this week so we're all heading out to Spain. It's actually a bit of a miracle. All of us got our visa's except for Elder Reynolds. He was pretty bummed but trying to be a sport about it and trying to stay positive. He got his reassignment Friday morning to Long Beach, Cali... and then that afternoon he got his visa! He's flying with all of us to NYC and then we split into separate planes to Spain. It was a miracle that he got his visa and made it onto the same flight as us. The Lord really keeps an eye out for us. 

So Tuesday- devotional night- was crazy. It was by Neil L. Anderson on love and sacrifice. He said that "The tings we sacrifice for we love, and we love the things we sacrifice for." I really like that thought. There's so much to think about in that one sentence. Just think about it. No wonder parents love theri childeren so much and missionary's their areas. 

After the devotional it was raining and security has us stay in the Marriot because of thunder and lighting. I'm sure it's the same storm that was in Moscow a few days earlier. I wish i could have seen it! We sang hymns to keep the reverence and Elder Andersn went around shaking hands with people for a few minutes before he left. He was within probably 20 ft of where we were sitting and you could just feel the Spirit so strongly. He really is an Apostle of the Lord. I could feel it, it made me tear up some actually. You could tell he wanted to meet everyone but there wasn't time. 

It was about 20 min. before we could leave the Marriot center. It was still raining so some of hte poor elders tried to bundle up thier suit coats and run. But most of us just laughed and enjoyed it. We spend lots of time in a classroom so it was really nice. It felt great and the rain was really pretty in the light. I had a couple notebooks stuffed under my cardigan so everyone's notes made it back to the MTC safely. We took a few pictures of our district all soaking wet. You probably can't tell, but we were all drenched. It felt great. H. Grover was frozen though, she's used to Florida's warm rain. All of us from Idaho thought it was a warm rain. Instead of having our Devotional Review like normal President Bradshaw sent us all back to our rooms so the Elders could take care of their suit coats. He is a man of the details. 

The coolest pat was that I'd been feeling a little down right before the meeting. I didn't want to, especially before a devotiona lbeccause those are such great opportunities for revelation and being reinspired. So I prayed for help to be able to be happy again and feel the spirit. Only a few minutes later we sang my favorite hymn "I know that My Redeemer Lives". It brought tears to my eyes as I really thought about what the words mean and I bore my testimony through song. It was such a simple way to bring the Spirit back, but it was so powerful. Another one of those little daily miracles. 

This week we Hosted again. They're sending a lot of missionaries to West Campus because they're going to start construction here to made the main campus big enough to hold everyone. It's made everything feel empty, comparatively. It was so much easier than normal to find a washer and dryer for laundry today! 

One of our Teachers, Hermano Ball, told us a bunch of stories about his mission one night after class.  He shared some very tender miracles from his mission with us that really invited the Spirit. His faith has been such a strong example for us. After he left we all knelt in prayer and then had another personal study time. We were supposed to be studying language, but we needed to have that time with the Lord. My testimony really grew that night. I was reassured that I am supposed to be on a mission and that I can do this. there are people waiting for me in Spain. It made me want to work harder and better and really push myself and not lose focus. I was struggling to focus this week and Satan was pushing my buttons. (On Sunday the devotional was about how Satan is pushing any buttons he can, so if it gets hard you know you're doing it right. He'd definatly been pushing mine and the devotional helped me notice how and become more aware.)

So here's my goal for my mission: Share the gospel with every ounce of strength I have. I want to be able to talk about the gospel with energy and excitement so that people can see how much I really love this church. Sometimes its hard to express that. 

This week has been so motivating. Writing this showed me that that was the theme of this week. Being remotivated and pushing myself. Going to Spain this next week is going to be crazy and super hard.  But I'm so excited to grow and start sharing the gospel. Starting in the airport.

I love you all! Remember, Music and the Spoken word. It's online and easy to find. Last week's the MOTAB sang "My Favorite things" from the SOund of Music. I was impressed by how well such a large choir sang that song. 

LOVES!

Hermana Woolley