May 12th Getting HOT

Well, its hot.It´s really hot for May. 90 degrees, in fact. And every day its getting warmer. Yum. But hey, we´re having fun out here! We went to the fair this week as a zone and we were able to ride a few rides and see all the Spainiards in their flamenco dresses and the men in their old style suits. It was a lot of fun. We all came home a little burnt (all of us forgot sunscreen) but it was still really, really fun. I´m really glad we had premission to go on a couple of hte rides.

And talking to my family yesterday-- there´s nothing better!! One hour isn´t enough time. Though I was kind of nervous because the member in whose house we were was talking to her family in Peru when we came in and had friends over. I was trying not to, but I kept checking my watch, watching the minutes tick by towards 5:30, afraid that she would forget the time. Thankfully she was awesome and all was well. And once I started talking all the friends trickled out. I could talk to you guys for hours. But that´s for when I come home :) <it reminded me how special our families are and remotivated me to try and work hard so I can help other people have an eternal family too. It´s a blessing that I want all to be able to have. 

Karina is doing well. She´s learning a lot still and is still very excited about the gospel. The ward is doing a good job of trying to help her get used to being a member too, something that I love to see as a missionary. 

Sorry its short this week, I´ve got ltos of emails and need to print some talks too for people. Love you all lots!!! Hope eveyrone had a great mothers day :)

Loves,

Hna Woolley

May 19th Watermelon is the BEST!

Did you know that Watermelon is Sandia in spanish? And that it is the most refeshing and delicious thing after a day of walking around in the sun.

...That honey mustard DOES, in fact, exist here in Spain. Score!

...The bus system in Sevilla needs some polishing. I´ve known that for a while, but you probably didn´t :)

...If you spend too much time under a tree in Sevilla, you come away covered in little black bugs that smear when you try to brush them off. Bugs that smear+white shirt= not a good combination.

.... you should double check the expiration date on all deli meat before you eat it. Learned that the hard week last week

... that after having food poisioning often your stomach hurts for a few days when you eat because its still sore. Yup. Felt like an old lady taking my gas pills. With the pills I was fine, but yes, i had food poisoning. I think its the first time I´ve ever had it. Not my favorite thing in the world.

But besides the food poisioning (how in the world do you spell that? ), things are going well. Karina is doing awesome, we taught her what a patriarchal blessing is the other day and we´re going to show her how to start her family history this week. She´s awesome, I´m so blessed to know her. I´m so grateful for the chance I´ve had to work here in Sevilla. It´s been a rollercoaster, but when is life not a rollercoaster? Thats what keeps it intersesting, right?

And having a foundation solid in the gospel is what keeps me going. Even though its hard as a missionary, yeah, it´s always going to be hard. It´s life. But with the gospel, it is SO much easier. I recieve so much strength every week taking the sacrament and remembering my covenants. And prayer. Oh wow, prayers. Without praying, I know I wouldn´t be able to do this. There are some thoughts that can only be shared with my Heavenly Father, some problems that only He can help me with. We are so blessed as members to have access to these things and to have the gift of the Holy Ghost. I´ve been thinking about it a lot the last few days and we really are so, so blessed.

Love you all. I´m praying and thinking about you guys. Thanks for all your support, seriously. I´m positive I´ve recieved help many times because of your prayers. Email hugs!!!!

Loves,

Hermana Woolley

p.s, sorry no picts this week. The computer I¨m using today is super old and dosen´t have a USB port.

..... ? I know. 

Hi there!

Well, this week was a lot of the normal missionary life. But Friday I did go on intercambios and spent Friday afternoon to Saturday morning in a nearby pueblo with a different missionary. Splits? I think thats what its called in english. 

This hermana is a good friend and lots of fun, so we had a blast. We ended up setting a baptismal goal with a man and his 9 year old daughter, which was awesome! I love the girl, she was super sweet. And funny. 

Her dad didn´t have a lot of time before going to work to meet with us. He kept talking and telling us what he thought about religon and about his life, and not giving us a chance to talk and start explaining the restoration to him. Its hard to know when to interrupt sometimes because I don´t want to be rude and we want to give people the chance to express what they´re feeling, but we also have something to share thats amazing! 

So I was starting to think we weren´t ever going to get the chance to teach before he had to leave, when his 9 year old daughter interrupts and says ,´´ Daddy, you have to let the Hermanas teach us. They haven´t talked at all yet and I want to listen!´´ I think she was listening to the Spirit without even realizing it :) Super funny experience.

I ate my first Niepolatana (not sure how you spell that) in a while too while I was in Dos Hermanas (The pueblo) and it was fantastic. I´d forgotten just how much I love those goodies. They´re the chocolate filled croissant thingies, I´ve sent pictures home before I¨m pretty sure. Yum!! 

This week I´ve been reading Moses for my studies, and its amazing how much stuff is in there! I´d forgotten so many things in there. Like Chapter 6 is full of the plan of Salvation and the Gospel of Christ and mentions Adam being baptized. Super cool stuff. I´m really learning so much out here. All these little bits and pieces that are building up my foundation and strengthening my testimony. It´s an awesome thing. My mission is still hard and there are still days when I´m not sure if I´ll make it to that night. BUT, the good things I¨m learning and the strength I´m gaining far outweighs the hard parts. 

I think thats how we felt about life, looking down from the premortal life. We knew it would be hard and that we´d get pretty darn tired. But its worth it, and we knew it. So we jumped from the edge of the cliff, knowing that Christ´s Atonement would catch us. We put all our eggs in one basket. We must of had so much faith!! It amazing to think about. I want to have that same faith, and more. That´s what we´re all working towards, right?

Just some of what I´ve been thinking about this week. Love you all a bunch, Keep on going strong! Don´t forget to read your scriptures and say your prayers, not for even ONE day. Love ya!!!! 

Hna Woolley

Karina's Baptism

This week has been full of miracles. Seriously, I think its been the most productive and amazing week of my mission. Not only the baptism of Karina, but we found lots of new investigators and had lots of lessons and had the help of several members. Our district leader was very surprized at the jump in our numbers. I´m fully convinced its because we decided to do our very best to be obedient and follow the Lord´s commands as exactly as we could. It has made all the difference this week.

I´ve been blessed to hear spiritual promptings more and more during my mission. It´s such a blessing to feel the guidance of the Spirit. This week we were in a lesson where we couldn´t really feel the spirit for various reasons. And it was the first time I realized how much I depend on the Spirit when we´re teaching. Because in this particular lesson I couldn´t think of anything to say. Nothing. We tried to talk and share something, but it just didn´t work. In part because of a language barrier (the women didn´t speak very good Spanish, she speaks Romanian), but hugely because it was impossible to feel the spirit. It was a really good learning experience for me.

Ok, so Karina´s baptism. It was absolutely wonderful. A teenage girl was baptized the same day so we worked with the Elders to make everything all happen. Our ward mission leader was awesome too. We went to go pick up Karina and her family, as a ´´just in case´´. 

Often the week before or even the day of the baptism something happens. Satan is trying as hard as he can to stop this baptism from happening, so he does all he can to discourage it. So we went to pick her up in case she was having cold feet. We got there and everything was fine, she wasn´t ready, but it was fine. As we slowly made our way to the church, I realized that we´d needed to pick her up more for us than for her. We ended up showing up at hte church 10  minutes before the baptism was supposed to start. (Here in Spain thats not a big deal. we were there before everyone else) If we´d been waiting for her in the church we would have been freaking out, but since we were with her all was calm. 

It was a beautiful service. The spirit was strong and Karina and the girl, Maria, were very happy. It was a miracle to see Maria getting baptized too. She almost got baptized a few weeks ago but got sick and had other problems so it didn´t happen. But the ward, especially the youth, bonded together and really helped her gain the courage to keep meeting with the missionaries and get baptized. 

I have never been so happy in my life as I was watchign Karina being baptized. There is no feeling like watchign someone I love so much make such a good decision. It was a moment of inexpressable joy. I don´t think there are words for how beautiful a baptism is. When people decide to come unto Christ and make the choice to try and be better..... it´s beautiful. Just beautiful. 

Love you all so much. Remember your own special day and why you decided to be baptized. Remembering the ´´why´´ of the gospel makes all the difference. Hugs and loves!!!!

Hna Woolley