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