Plaza de Espana in Seville

4 baptisms!

Hello all! 

This week nothing terribly eventful happened. It was actually kind of niice to have a more relaxed week. We did have one super crazy day though. We were so blesseed to have a day where we were completely full. When we weren´t in an apointment we were hurrying to the next one. I´ve never had a day like that before where literaly every hour was spent in people´s houses. It was such a blessing. I love those days where I just go to bed exhausted, knowing I´ve worked hard and done a good job. It´s the best :) 

I´ve been really working to try and give my all every single day. That ´´all´´ varies day by day, but I´ve felt a difference when I counsiously decided to give everything.The work hasn´t changed at all, but my attitude is changing and I´m happier during the day and learning more I think. 

This week we ate at the Relief Society presidents house. I have to say, it was darn good. Some of the best food I´ve eaten here. She gave us a lentil and vegtable dish and a salad at first. Then she pulled out these oysters and showed us how to eat them. I´ve never had oysters before but always wanted to. So fun! They don´t have a ton of taste but I still really like them. Then she pulled out this rabbit for us to try. Yes, rabbit. It´s not the only wierd meat I´ve eaten. Ate deer a couple times too. I actually didn´t mind the rabbit, the bones were just in wierd places. But it tasted fine. It tasted like chicken. Seriously, it did. Just a little stronger flavor.

This weekend 4 people got baptized here in Sevilla between the 2 wards. I am friends with one of the converts as I´ve been sitting with her in class, but the others I actually didn´t know. They were really big baptisms, basically like sacrament meeting as so many people came. It was great to see the wards supporting these people so much. 

Also, the pictures are from the Plaza de España, we visited it last week after emailing. Apparently part of one of the Star Wars movies was filmed there. I didn´t recognize anything, but I also haven´t seen Star Wars in years. 

I love you all a lot! I know that Christ lives and loves us. He only wants the best for us. Good luck with everything this week, you´re all in my prayers.

Loves,

Hermana Woolley

First full week in Sevilla

Hola! my lovely, beautiful family. So nice to talk to you again.

This week has been packed full of things. I always have to look back at my journal for the beginning of hte week because it seems so far away. It´s kind of wierd to think about.

At the beginning of the week I went on intercambios with the SHE´s (Hnas with more experience to help the other hnas.) It was super, super fun. It was exactly what I needed. We laughed a lot and I got to meet lots of cool people, eat good food, be WARM (there heater works better than ours. And they have real water pressure!), all sorts of fun things.

On my way back the SHE going back to Dos Hermanas (the pueblo) said that my companions were in a cita so they´d be late getting to the bus stop. So when I got back to Sevilla I sat down and started reading Our Heritage. And I read. And read. After like 30 minutes I went to stand in a more obvious part of the station, thinking we were missing each other. I stood there for almost 30 minutes, looking for them. I wasn´t nervous or anything, just bored. So when I got tired of standing I went and sat back down. A few minutes later they found me. They´d been looking for me for like 30 minutes and had even called the SHE´s. They´d just been looking in a different part of hte station, thinking I´d come from that side. Kind of funny, we got teased about it some. I kind of enjoyed having time to read Our Heritage, but I´m sure everyone else was stressed.

While with Hna Wilcox (the SHE) we watched one of her dads talks as we went to bed, called ¨¨His Grace is Suficcent¨¨ By Brad Wilcox. I´ve heard it before but not for a long time. It was perfect, it was  exactly what I needed. It helped me feel peace and the love of the Lord in a way I hadn´t even realized I needed. But once I felt it I realized I´d been aching for that feeling for a few days. Not that I hadn´t been feeling loved, but that talk just hit me in just the right spot. She gave me a copy of hte talk (in Spainish :) ) and I think it will be one of my favorites for a long time. 

It uses and analogy that I just love. Bro Wilcox compares grace to a piano student. Mom pays for the lessons. And mom doesn´t ask for us to pay her back, and neither does the piano teacher. All they ask for is practice. It doesn´t get rid of the debt, but it is what is asked of the student. I love this comparison to Christ and his Atonement. We will never, ever be able to pay him back. But he´s not asking us to. He´s asking us to follow his example and practice being good people. Also, the student isn´t expected to play a symphony perfectly. It´s not Carnagie Hall or nothing.  We´re allowed to hit wrong notes. We just need to keep practicing. 

I love this. Love it, love it. If you have time, I highly encourage you to read the talk. Seriously.

It´s one of those things that was the tipping point to changing something in my life. That was at the beginning of the week, adn this week I´ve felt so much closer to the Lord than ever before in my life. It wasn´t just hte talk, it was a bunch of other things leading me, but I´ve hit a point where I´ve started to really change. I´ve really decided to let God change me, and it´s making all the difference.

So, Sevilla wise, things are going good. We have been talking to lots of people and I actually know some people´s names from the ward. I love our investigators a ton! They´re all really nice people who just want to come closer to Christ. Now they just need to decide for themselves that the things we´re teaching them are the way to do so. And we need to find some more people, but I feel that like thats always the case.  And my legs are going to be SO strong after Sevilla. We walk everywhere here because the bus is pretty expensive, even with a card. So unless its more than a 30 min away walking, we walk. 

Love you all! Email hugs for everyone!!

Hna Woolley

Christmas Day!

Christmas party

Kelsey Dec 2013

Sevilla first week

Hello!

If you know anything about Sevilla, you´ll think I´m crazy. But i´m COLD!! Not when we´re outside, but in the piso. Our apartment, like all in Sevilla, is designed to be as cool as possible since its so warm here in the summer. Unfortunately, that means we freeze a bit right now. We´ve got a couple heaters but they´re not quite enough first thing in the morning after getting out of my warm, cozy bed.

But besides that, Sevilla is great. It´s definately very, very different. It´s been a bit of an adjustment getting used to a new city. I´m not a fan of not really knowing my way around, but I´m sure it will come soon. Ish. And Sevilla is MUCH bigger than Granada. I didn´t think it was possible, but our area here is even bigger than the one in Granada. And theres so many missionary´s here! It´s crazy, I´m not used to being around other hermanas at all. But theres some in the other Sevilla ward and in the pueblos nearby. 

My companions, Hna Greenwood and Hna Bangeter are great. We´re starting to get used to each other and we´ve had some fun bonding and sharing stories together. Hna Greenwood is going home in Febuary so she has lots of experience and I´m hoping to learn a lot. I´m already learning so much here.

It´s a really different area than my last one. Granada has had missionary´s in it for a really long time so we had lots of old investigators and we had an area with lots of less actives to visit and set as good back ups. Our area was just opened 3 transfers ago so there isn´t much of an area book to work with. There´s lots of area that hasn´t been worked, so that´s exciting! But planning takes a really long time each night because we really have to plan super well since the area is so big (or else we´d spend all day runnng back and forth). Poor Hna Bangeter was only here one transfer before us so she only kind of knows the area too. I´m sure its really stressful for her. The bus system is really wierd so we have a hard time figuring it out sometimes, but Hna Bangeter always gets us where we need to go! She´s so nice and fun and is trying so hard. Hna Greenwood has really helped us a lot, I think Hna Bangeter and I would have been in a lot of trouble without her. Hna Bangeter and I have the same time on the mission, aka not tons of experience.

But I have really awesome news! We have THREE fetchas! THREE!! A FAMILY!!! I kind of can´t believe it. They´re a really awesome family and really seem to want to know the gospel. The main problem will be helping them to quit smoking. But they already want to quit, and that´s the biggest hurdle. I met them once this week and they seem like really awesome people who really want to follow Christ.

We´re teaching these two guys who are in their late 20´s who also seem really good. One of them is only partially interested, but the other, Cristofer, willl get baptized. I know it. When we invited him to baptism he said no, but its only because he doesn´t understand why he needs to be baptized. He was baptized Catholic already and doesn´t really understand the difference. But we´ll help him understand and I know he´ll get baptized.

Another investigator named Charles is an older man, an American. He came here for work a long time ago and got married so he raised his family in Spain. His wife died a few years ago and it´s been really hard for him since. We taught him the plan of Salvation and it was a really great lesson. He had a hard time with some concepts, but he had really great questions. And I know he felt the Spirit. 

He was wondering why his wife had to die, because she´s missing out on seeing their grandkids grow up and things like that. He doesn´t understand why she had to suffer and why she had to leave. Basically he was asking why do bad things happen to good people? The story of Alma and Amulek when all the people who believed were thrown into a fire and killed came to mind and I shared that with them. Amulek asked Alma why they had to watch this and why God was letting this happen. Alma´s answer was that he was giving the wicked people the opportunity to choose. I explained that God wasn´t ever going to take away someones opportunity to make choices, even if it hurt other people. And  that these people would be judged for their actions, and that the righteous people who died were happy and free from pain or sorrow. 

His wife didn´t die because of someone else as far as I know, but the story was perfect. The Holy Ghost knew exactly what Charles needed. The Spirit was so strong and I think we left Charles with a lot to think about. I felt so strongly in the lesson that he´ll get baptized one day so that he can join his wife. It was really a special lesson. He´s not ready to accept right now, he still has lots of doubts and questions. But we´re helping him learn and he´s opening his heart to the Spirit.

Sevilla is good. It was hard at first, I was feeling homesick for Granada. I still do some. Mainly for Hna Roan and knowing my way around and our piso. Our apartment there was fantastic and this one is less so. With three of us theres not enough hot water so showers are kind of not fun. And my hair doesn´t get as clean because theres not enough water/water pressure. But I´m doing good. I have my tea tree oil shampoo and floss and a warm bed. And lots of chocolate and yummy food. The ward is nice, I think I´ll love them a lot. We´ve already recieved a lot more help from teh members than we ever did in Granada and consejo was AWESOME. (Consejo is the sunday mtng with the ward leaders, i don´t know what its called in english). And the church building is HUGE. It has 2 floors. I´ve never seen a building so huge. It doesn´t have a really big chapple though wich i find confusing. Its bearley big enough for our little ward. 

Lots of work to do here in Sevilla. I´m excited to learn and continue to draw closer to the Lord. I´ve seen his hand so often on my mission, in my life and the life of others. I feel so privlidged to have witnessed such Spiritual moments like Charles´s lesson. MY faith has grown and I´m so excited to get to come even closer to the Lord and watch my faith grow even more. I just love this gospel so much! I love the work and I love helping people. Thats what I´m out here to do more than anything. Help people. The best way to help is to help them find Christ, but if all someone needs is a loving smile and a hug, then I¨ll give that. Christ showed his love to everyone, even those who would reject and hurt him. He knew that those people would reject him, but he loved them anyways. How amazing is that. 

I love you all so much. Have a really great week. Don´t forget to say your prayers and ponder the words of Christ!

LOVES!
Hna Woolley

First Transfer

Hey there! Sorry this is super late today. The loc´s are all closed today because it´s a holiday here in Spain so we had to come to the church to email.

So big news first. I´M MOVING!!!! I´m being transferred to Sevilla! I leave this wednesday and I´m going to be in a trio for one month. One of my companions is finishing her mission before the end of the transfer Hna Greenwood, thus the trio. Both are from the states the one who will be staying Bangeter has been out about the same time as me.  Its the perfect time of year to go to Sevilla, so I´m really excited. MUCH better than in the middle of the summer, Sevilla is the hottest part of the mission. People have a different accent there, so hopefully it won´t take me too long to understand people!

This week has been another week of parties!! With New Years Eve and the Tres Reys we have had a hard time meeting with investigators. We only got to meet with Manuel twice this week. That was a bummer. I said goodbye to him this last time because he can´t meet tonight either. 

But I have to explain what the Tres Reyes is. Here in Spain they basically have two Christmases. The second one is the night of the january 5 and the 6th day. The three kings, or wise men, come and leave gifts for the kids, just like they did for the Christ child. There´s a big parade in town (we got to see part of it, it was really cool. Pretty much everyone in Granada was there) and they eat this circular fruit cake. Inside the cake is a little figurine of a king and a nut. Who ever gets the king has good luck for the year and who ever gets the nut has to pay for next years cake. Kind of a fun tradition. We as missionary´s had a cake of our own friday night after english classes. It tasted a lot better than we thought it would. But that was mainly the whipped creme (chocolate!) inside.   I was the only one of the missionaries who was able to eat 12 grapes in 12 seconds.  This is a New Year's Eve tradition for the last 12 seconds of the year.  One elder started choking on his and didn't even try to finish. It was a fun time.

So besides that, we didn´t work with a lot of our investigators a ton. Mostly found future investigators because everyone was willing to open the door this week! Everyone thought we were a friend coming for a party, but they all said we could come back next week after the parties were over, so thats good! Hna Roan and her new companion (who is from the Canary´s!) will have lots of work to do :)

Leaving this transfer and saying goodbye to everyone has really helped me come to realize how much I really do love Granada. I´ve really come to love the people here so much. I was thinking about it a lot last night after saying goodbye to most of the ward and taking lots of pictures. And , you know, I wouldn´t trade this experience for anything. Yeah, its hard. It´s stinking hard. But so, so worth it. And leaving Granada has really shown me that. The rewards are just amazing. Now I have all these new friends that I´ll know for the rest of my life. 

I´ve seen so many amazing things here and learned so much from the members and the missionary´s and the investigators. I´ve been humbled and I´ve been guided. I´m a different person because of my experience here. And I wouldn´t have it any other way. I really am incredibly blessed to be able to serve a mission like this. And the way I feel about Granada just has me more excited for Sevilla. I´m excited to feel that way about other parts of Spain too!

I love you guys a lot. I love this gospel, and I´m SO grateful for it. I´m really, really happy, people. Really happy. And I know it´s because I´m serving so much and sacrificing so much. And it´s only possible because the Lord is carrying me. I couldn´t even imagine doing this alone. It´s not possible. And by ´´it´´ I mean life, not just my mission. I never have to be alone, and I know how to make sure I never am. Now I get to go share that with other people and help them learn the same things. How cool is that?

Have a happy new year! 

Loves,

Hna Woolley