Last Letter

Well this is it, my friends. The last email from this sister as a missionary. Thats such a wierd thing to write. But its just part of the calling. Just like Heavenly Father called me to be a missionary, he also only called me for 18 months. At least full time. I¨m 100% positive He wants me to keep being a missionary when I get home.

I feel like I should say something really profound and moving, but I don´t know that I´m that type of missionary. I know what I know, and I try my best to do what the Lord asks me. And because of those two things, I have been so incredibly blessed. 

I know that God lives. And He loves us so, so much. This is His church. There is no book more true than the Book of Mormon, and Joseph Smith was a man called of God. I have no doubt of these truths. And I am ready to take each day as it comes with my shoulders set and God holding me up, facing towards Eternal Life. 

I love this gospel so much. And I adore Spain and all the crazy, amazing, definately not-American people I´ve met here. And I´m sure that its time for the next phase of life, because I know the Lord never sends us trials until He knows its time. So its time. 

Lots of Love,

Hermana Woolley

WOW! The end is coming.

Wow, ok. This last week just swept past without a blink and has left me in the last full week of my mission. Um... what? When did I become that old in the mission? I really don´t feel like it, I have so much to learn and I am not that good of a missionary. But when I look back, I can see that I have learned so, so very much. And honestly, it has me excited for the rest of the things I´m going to learn.

This last week I was sick enough that we stayed in piso almost all week. That was hard to not be able to work, but now I´m better and in a way, being sick was a blessing. Because it makes this last week more special. I think maybe if I´d been fine last week this week would feel like just any other, but now it means more. I´m determined to make the very most of it, to use everything I´ve learned to bare poweful testimony with authority. In Preach My Gospel it talks about how people can choose to not listen but they can´t deny your testimony. I wish I had the actual quote, but its something like that.  That´s really impacted me my whole mission, I´ve tried to really grow my testimony because I´ve seen what that can do in other missionaries. So I´m planning on not holding back one drop this week. 

I´m excited to see all of you again soon. Don´t stop praying, don´t stop reading the scriptures. It should get to the point where doing those two things is as important as eating. Where they´re as natural as breathing. I know Christ lives. I know this church is true. I know that God listens to us and answers our prayers. And I know without a sliver of doubt that He loves us. O, how He loves it. Just thinking about it makes my heart swell with gratitude.

Until next week.

Hna Woolley

excerpt from my letter:

aaaahhhhhhhhhhh. im so freaked out by the idea of commi8ng home. seriously, kind of stressed about it this morning. i just love being a missionary. it makes me tear up thinking about it. its a very torn, very uncomfortable feeling. but im determined to go out with thunder as you put it. i want to have the most perfect week i can as a missionary, the best one yet. because now i have an idea of how to do things and im no longer sick (i was sick ALL week last week. we worked friday night and saturday basically) so I just want to attack every day and give it everything ive got. no holding back, nu uh. :) thank you for the advice, it helps. because im also very, very tired. but thats ok, missionary work is hard. y punto. 

Sick this week, but doing well

I started off the New Year in a memorable way this year. Sick. You know how in cartoons the sick person has a bright red nose like rudolf and is laying in bed surronded by used tissues? I´ve never been that person before, but I totally was this week. Also, never knew I was the type of person who got frustrated with being sick. I am. I was frustrated. But thats a good thing, right? I just wanted to be out working and helping people!

We had a really relaxed New Years this year, just spent some time with a few other missionaries because we weren´t allowed to work after 7 unless we had set citas. So those of us that didnt´have citas went to the chruch and played some basketball and frisbee, etc. It was fun.

In my studies today I was reading about Nefi when he´s about to build the boat. Its interesting, because he mentions that 8 years passed in the wilderness, without any mention of Laman and Lemuel murmuring. So I´m assuming that there wasn´t much going on, and if so, it was pretty low key. 

But as soon as the Lord commands Nefi to build a boat, his brothers gear back up into full on complaining. To the point where Nefi has to really reprimand them. 

What caught my eye this time was that it wasn´t until a big change came that L&L started complaining again. Until a true trial of their faith came along. It just showed me how easily we can glide along on someone else´s faith for a while, but not forever. That a moment always comes where we have to have our own faith. Its made me really grateful for parents that have helped me learn how to gain my own testimony and a Heavenly Father that gave me a mission experience to solidify and grow that testimony. I don´t know who I´d be without it, and I never want to find out.

I hope you all have a great New Years! I love you all so much.

Loves,

Hna Woolley

excerpt from my letter:

I´ve been sick this week so we had two days inside. One afternoon and then we worked a couple days and then i went back downhill yesterday. the elders gave me a blessing after church though and i slept a lot yesterday and all through the night and feel much better today. taking it slow though, i don´t want to be sick the whole last little bit. So yesterday i didn't´t fast, i´m going to next week. 

Trent is right, thats kind of why I decided to stay. I dont regret staying in any way. School and RM life will always be there, but the miracles I´ve seen and growning I´ve had out in this last month could have only happened here as a missionary. I´ll still see miracles afterwards too, but not this kind. :) And im adtually not trunky. i had stressful dreams about airports last night, but thats it. im usuallly pretty good. I like being here and this is what life is for me right now. I´ve really tried to learn to just love the stage of life i´m in and not be wishing to be somewhere else. to control my dreamer side some. because if not, i´ll always be lokoing forward to the next stage and not enjjoying where i am. 

Christmas

Well, it was an amazing Christmas. I talked with my family (love them!), (too short of a time though, always), ate sea food (love it!), gave gifts and recieved a few, and really felt the Spirit. 

This Christmas my mission president really worked to help us remember that we are still missionaries and not on vaccacion for Christmas. So we still celebrated, but everything we did this last week we evaluated to see if it helped us fulfill our purpose. Christmas morning we were obedient and still exercised before opening presents and still had our studies. All thanks to my wonderful companion! And before opening presents, we read the Christmas story. We sat there in front of our little tree huddled in blankets in our cold Spanish apartment, and read about Christ being born in a sable and laid in a manger. It brought such a different feeling to our Christmas this year. We still had fun and enjoyed all the traditions here (mentioned below) but that really helped bring us back to the reason for everything. And I´m so grateful Hna Smith brought that tradition from her family with her. 

So Christmas Eve we ate with an investigator and her husband and daughter. It was lots of fun and LOTS of sea food. Shrimp is a holiday food here, so we ate some giant shrimp and a seafood soup, a turkey, 2 vegtable dishes, and crab legs. All for just 5 of us. We helped her cook, and I´m glad we did or it would have been too much work for just one woman! But people here are just so giving. Even when they don´t  need to, they give so much just because they love you and want to share. It makes me want to give more.

Christmas day we went and ate with a British family in our ward. They invited all the missionaries in the ward and a few other people and fed us a british feast. Very similar to american food, but with brussel sprouts and what is basically figgy pudding. it was interesting (the pudding). I did like it okay, but just not enough to ask for the recipie. The hostess did say that no one really likes it, its just tradicion. That made me laugh to myself a bit.  Also, fun fact of the day. In Britian, brussel sprouts are just sprouts, and pudding is any dessert, not our pudding. Pudding is custard there. Funny things. 

Anyways, I love you all a lot and hope you have had a wonderful year. Don´t forget to strech a little this next year and set some real goals! I´ve set tons of very specific goals, and it has me very excited for the comming year. Love you!!

Hermana Woolley

---

Last Tri-Zone Conference

We switched pday to Tuesday this week because yesterday we had a Tri-zone conference. My last one. It was a very bitter sweet day. Because conferences are like family reunions out here, but more often! Its such a great blessing. But now I don´t get to do those any more. 

For the last one of the year we always have a talent show, and its always so great. This year a district got up and played chubby bunny. (You fill your mouth with giant marshmallows one at a time and you have to say chubby bunny after each one. the winner is the last person still standing.) It was hilarious. And some beautiful musical numbers too. 

My mission also has the tradition that in a missionaries last tri-zone they bear their testimony. It was quite the list, all Hermanas except for one elder. I´m in a pretty big group. :) I was so nervous though. I didn´t want to try to plan anything, because I really just wanted to say what Heavenly Father wanted me to say. When the Elder conducting the meeting said my name in the list, it made my stomach drop. I had sweaty hands and butterflies in the stomach, the whole thing. But when I actually got up there, I was relatively calm. I cried. Its sad, saying goodbye. But the Lord has blessed me with a wonderful mission experience and wonderful people to serve and serve with. And i still have a month. :) So no rush. It was just a very special and memorable moment. 

I love you all so much! Have a wonderful Christmas!

Hna Woolley

p.s. I'm excited as well to come home. and sad. but ive decided to try to just accept each day as it is. so not sit around waititn to go home, and when im home try to not long to be a missionary any more, to enjoy being a RM. easeir said than done, but im doing alright. this week will be good. 

Loving my ward

Wow, ok. We´re in the end of this journey together here in Spain, people. And we´re not talking about it. 

My new companion Hna Smith is so AMAZING! I´m really imressed by her desire to work and love and just improve daily. She´s always telling me about new goals she´s got and really does just have a fire to her. We´re at opposite ends of the mission- she has 4 months- but we work so well together. We´ve both been sick so we´ve had a few hours of stay in time this week, so we haven´t taught tons together. But what we have done, the Lord is definately working through us both. I think this will be a vey fun companionship. 

This week we had the ward Christmas dinner. It was lots of fun! I finally feel like I´m getting to know this ward now that I´m meeting people from another area, so thats very nice. I really love this ward. 

I play the piano in primary every sunday so I played for their little singnig program for the cena too. I´m not the best since I´ve not reallly ever played primary songs before, but I have improved so much from the beginning of the mission. Before, playing in public made me crumble. I really couldn´t do it, I just freaked myself out. Now, i just played one of those songs terribly ( right hand only) but I´m okay with where I am because I know I´m learning and doing my best. And thats all that matters. It does help that my piano skills have improved as well. :) 

But it really did show me another small thing that the mission has taught me. I´ve learned so, so much out here and I just keep going! The Lord is so wonderful to bless me so much, I am just filled with gratitude so often. There just aren´t words. 

So I hope you can enjoy this last week before Christmas, and remmber once again why we´re celebrating. We really do owe all to Christ. And I´m so grateful for that. I love him, and I´m trying to be at the point where I would do anything for Him. I can´t say I´m there yet, but I want to be. 

I love you all so much! This gospel is true!!!!

Loves,

Hna Woolley

Transfer Time

Ok, so we´ve gotten a big transfer surprize here in Málaga. I´m being transfered! What? Right? Just for my last transfer. Its because our area is being white washed. So it will now be Elders in our area and we are both leaving. It was a big surprize to us both. Hna Plummer is going up to a pueblo by Sevilla (badajoz) and I am going to be with Hna Smith! (She was in that picture i fwd to you- girl with teh curly blonde hair) She´s actually in my ward right now, so I´m just hopping one area over, just a short bus ride away. 

So, of course we´re scrambling to get the piso ready for the elders. Clean out all girl things, do those tidying tasks we just have never gotten to, write notes so they know who is who, bus routes, let our few investigators and less actives know, try to set up some citas for them....

We´re going pretty crazy around here. But its okay, because it feels right. I´m sad to leave and that Hna Plummer and I only got one transfer together, but if there is anything I´ve learned out here its to trust the Lord. This is his work, not mine, and he definately knows how to direct it better than I do. So I´ll just follow his lead the best I can and work my hardest. 

I love you all so much! thanks for all your love and prayers, they really do help. I´m praying for you all too :) Have a great week!

Hna Woolley

Thanksgiving Week

Wow! Ok, this week just blew right on by. We had an amazing Thanksgiving Feast as a zone here in málaga. There were about 50 of us there, we´re a really big zone! Everyone brought something, there were lots of chocolate chip cookies (its quite the treat out here, they´re hard to make without good brown sugar), of COURSE mashed potatoes and gravy, turkey, sweet potatoes, fruit salad, cranberry sauce (so good!) and even stuffing. My sweet potato casserole turned out good. I was pleased, and it relieved the stress I´d felt. For those taht don´t know, there are two thinks at thanksgiving dinner that are the most important to me. Sweet potatoe casserole and pumpkin pie. So my casserole had to be perfect. And it wasn´t as good as moms, but it worked :) Two elders made rolls that were fantastic. They´d been practicing for two weeks and they turned out fantastic. So the whole thing was yummy. I ate plenty. But, I didnt stuff like normally. I had to go out and work afterwards, didn´t want to be too sleepy. So I¨m already excited for next year :)

That day and the next three it just POURED rain on us. We were soaked through. Litterally my feet made that squishy cartoon water sound when we walked. A drain whole over flooded too so one street we wer trying to cross was basically a river. So we scooted along the side on the part of the sidewalk that wasn´t a river until we passed it and could cross to the other side. Quite the adventures. It only means lots of laundry, unfortunately. 

Today is warm and sunny though, so life is good. I´m so blessed to serve in such a sunny place, because its so important to me to have the sun. Makes all the difference some days. 

 I don´t have time to write much more, but I wanted to tell you about my studies. I´ll just say that I´m really coming to understand so much better that the gospel really is the only path to true happiness. Everything else leads to short term splurges and sadness. I see so many people who are making ok choices and are just miserable. I would just love to help them see what they need to change. We try, but you can´t make anyone act, they have to grow their own testimonies of what we teach. I think it must be how our Heavenly Father feels about us sometimes. We just don´ñt do it when we know better. And He does all He can to help us, but He can´t ever do it for us. Makes me so incredibly grateful for the knowledge I have and the steps I´m trying to take towards conversion. 

I love this work. Its hard and frustraiting sometimes, but I love it. This just is the true church of God.

Love you all!!!

Hna Woolley

we´re doing lots of looking this week. we´ve dropped almost all our investigators, no one is progressing, not even our less actives. makes it hard to go out sometimes, but we´re really helping each other stay animated to go and work. also never had an area where EVERYONE has such big problems. normally there was at least one or two ppl that were just fun to visit, even if they  had problems. here everyone just dumps all their sadness on us. helps me understand the saying that Christ was a ´´man of sorrows´´ more. its very heavy sometimes. but we have fun together as a companionship, so that makes is doable. 

love you lots!!!!! have a good week. :)

Duct tape

So this week we had an AMAZING, once in a mission experience. We had Elder Kearon, from the first quorm of the 70 and in the european area presidency, came and talked to us. The mission was split into two different meetings, so i was able to see lots of missionaries. 

But even better than seeing friends were those messages. They were so uplifting. Hermana Deere (pres. wife) gave a talk where she just acknowledged that lots of us are feeling very weary. But then she read us a scripture ¨´be not weary in well doing´´ and reminded us why we are here. It was so perfect to have her acknowledge our weariness. Because its definately there, but that dosen´t mean we stop. 

But then we talked about attacking the day, and starting the day on the right foot. About being an energetic and excited missionary. And how we are doing very well, but we can always do better.

Elder Kearon and his wife both gave wonderful talks about the atonement and finding and teaching and baptizing. Honestly, so much wonderful stuff and inspiration. I´d love to share it with you all, but it was from 11- almost 5 pm so that would probably take up all my email time. :) But just know that the Spirit was so strong and I was lifted and I´m working my hardest. It was at perfect timing too, it really has helped me want to keep on it. Attack the day! :)

We have a new goal for this week of bringing 250 investigators to church this sunday. its a big goal. But we´re going to do it!!! (normally we bring around 120 max as a mission) Because no one gets baptized until they get to church. 

Also, all of you boy scouts would be proud of me. My bag has been slowly dying aka, one of my bag handles is so stretched out its twice as long as the other. But I duct taped the crazies out of it and now its all fixed! I figure, it only has to last 2 more months. And I´m determined to come home with the same bag I left with. its my miracle bag, it should have died like 5 months ago, but its just been holding out. Symbol of my mission haha. Duct taped all up. 

Love you guys a bunch!! Attack the day!!

Loves,

Hna Woolley 

2nd week in malaga

ok, I´m writing this family letter first after the disaster of last week. As we were finishing up we got a call from the other hermanas saying that our bus to go bowling was going to be there soon and that we needed to get to the stop. So i lost those five minutes I was going to write you guys. I hope at least part of the letter was legible. 

Málaga is awesome. Our piso is a little interesting... I´ve duct taped a shower curtain up in my shower because there is no rod or curtain, and im too poor to buy a rod. And we need to get some new lightbulbs. But its pretty and its big, so thats nice. i´m in the downtown area again, just like Granada. 

This weekend we actually even went to Granada for stake conference, which was a huge tender mercy for me. i was able to see all those old members and talk to them and take a few pictures. it was so great to see all of them again, now here in the end of my mission. And i was actually able to talk to them which I couldn´t do very well at the beginning of my mission. 

Yesterday we saw an awesome miracle. We couldn´t fast on fast sunday so we were fasting together this sunday, specifically to help our area grow because its kind of at a lower point right now. So we ended our fast after getting back from Granada and went out to visit this lady from Colombia named Guillermina (Gee-er-min-eeah). We had this really powerfull lesson where we talked about why we´re obedient to Gods commandments and how thats the only path to happiness. We hadn´t planned on it, but I felt impressed to really bring that to baptism and how thats the first step to getting our lives into order and in line with Gods plan for us. She´d been talking to us about the problems in her life beforehand and just saying how she´d made so many mistakes and her life was a mess. She was really responsive, but didnt´want to commit to baptism at all. But we told her to pray and think about it and she´d get an answer that its what she´s looking for. 

After her we were going to a baptism in our ward from the other hermanas. We´d invited her before the lesson but she´d told us she had to study and didnt have time. Afterwards as we were leaving we invited her one last time, and she was on teh verge of saying yes when her ex husband came up and they had to talk about a few things. So we went to the bus stop, kind of bummed she wasn´t going to come. 

The bus is late. One is out of service or something and we see on the sign that its not coming for 10 more minutes. We quickly called Guillermina and she rushed out the door and met us at the stop, just as the bus pulled up. Later, she told us that her husband had just stepped into the elevator as her phone rang. And she LOVED the baptism. It was a huge leap in spirituality for her, it was amazing.

So thats the big miralce of the week. My faith in fasting has grown so much on the miracle, becasue it truly seems that every time I fast a miracle happens. The Lord is trying to answer our prayers in every way He can.

Side note. Bowling was awesome. I won :)

Love you all! Don´t forget to talk to your Heavenly Father every day, He´s waiting to hear from you :)

Loves,

Hna Woolley

3rd week in Malaga

Wow, ok time is just slipping past. Because I´m positive i just wrote this letter.  I´m just going around, doing my job with my awesome comp Hna Plummer! 

We have had some very strong spiritual citas this week. I´ve reached the point where I don´t beat around the bush or try to make what i´m saying pretty so the person we´re teaching dosen´t feel bad. I just listen to the Spirit and say whatever comes to mind, whether its hard or not. 

We had one of those experiences with an investigator this week. She´s known missionaries for YEARS and has been taught for a long time, but never really progressed. But she loves the church, she is just very devoted to her catholic traditions. 

So we invited the spirit by watching the Joseph Smith movie. We´d been prepping for this video, talking about obedience and sacrifice in our previous citas. So after the video we start talking about how there is really only one church and one path. She kept saying (as she has said before) that she likes our beliefs and believes them, but she can´t abandon the Catholic church (the catholic churches are much emptier than they were when she was young). 

She´s heard about authority 100s of times, so when we started talking about the need for the priestood I could see her nodding in that ´´yea, yeah, i´ve heard this before´´ way. So i said a little prayer and just talked strongly about how there really is only one way. One baptism. That she has to be baptized the right way or it dosen´t count towards salvation. Earlier in my mission, telling someone that their catholic baptism dosen´t count terrified me. But I´ve come to understand the need more and truly believe that the correct baptism is the only way to open the door to eternal happiness.

And, you know, I don´t know if she understood completely. But I did see a change in her eyes and it seemed to hit her differently. Not because of anythign I did, but the Spirit. I´ve just finally started to learn how to step out of the way and let the Spirit testify. Its been happening more and more lately. It really is true, that as soon as you start to figure things out, you´re on your way home. Its sad, but i think thats how life is. You get one challange under control and then its on to the next one. :)

Love you all so much! Have a good week.

Hna Woolley

p.s. we get along great, which is so, so nice. i always got along with my comps, but sometimes it takes more effort, so its nice to have it just fall easily into friendship. especially since i want to put my efforts into other things. its true what the miss pres wife said, it does make a difference, i feel like thats when we really start to be bold.

Transfer to Malaga

So I´ve developed this probably terrible habit of writing this letter last. Not the best idea I think, but I just get excited a bout all  my other emails!

Its been my most interesting transfer yet I think. Normally we travel on wednesdays for tranfers, but becasue my companion was training, she had to go early to pick up her new comp, which meant I had to go early. So we traveled to Málaga together and then she was going to keep going to the pueblo wehre the mission home is. 

We got there and.... no one knew i was comming. So after calling lots of missionaries we finally got me hooked up with some hermanas in this area, but not my comp. so i worked with them for a day nd then met my comp. and we have to leave for emergbency thing, not a big deal, so ill have to finisdh this next weeek. love ou all!

haha your list of questions makes me laugh. for the address, Hna Plummer cant remmeber the building number so remind me next week and ill give it to you. or send a letter before then or something. 

so glad eveyone had a fun halloween. we had an interesting day, we did lots of walking around but we had 2 citas to end the night which was perfect, because spaniards have taken all the creepy of halloween and none of hte little kid cute. even the littlest kids are dressed up as vampires with blood, etc. really sad. we found cream puffs in this bakery and bought those for our treat, so that was really yummy. 

i like our area so far. its a rough area, but i havne´t ever had an area that isn´t. we have some area thats right on the beach basically (we can´t go near the beach obviously) and then the downtown. so like the best parts of málaga. theres 2 other companionships in the ward, one of elders and one of herms. so 2 comps of herms! first time ever. 

i haven´t met much of the ward yet, but theyre all nice. big mix of countries. the lady who plays the piano is british and theres nigerians here again! haven´t seen any nigerians in a while. they´re very nice, humble, happy people. i don´t play the piano in sacrament meeting but they pulled me out to play for priamary singing time, thats a first. i played terribly becaues they had a terrible set up fo the piano (No piano bgench, just a chair. thats my LEAST favorite thing. so hard to play well. ) and another herm played in relief society. so i think ill still be playing but not as often. im okay with that, i was sad thik ill still be playing but not as often. im okay with that, i was sad thinking i wasn´t going to play. 

i think im good on potassium. i eat lots of bannanas. its a cheap fruit and i fry it with rice and beans like a regular south american. its really good. :) im feeling good energy wise, ive got one more round of iron before i come home. stinks shes so sick still. before i took the iron i started taking a general viatamins and minerals pill and it acutally helped a little. maybe jenna should take something like that, she gets sick so often she probably is missing some key vitamins. glad annicas doing okay, the 3 weeks is impressive of no sugar. 

teaching wise.... not a lot of people. we have this investigator that is kind of not progressing but were trying to get some refrences from her from colombia. she gave us this colombian sugar that i love yesterday, im very excited about it. makes the best lemonade! not really lemonade season, but im determined to teach hna plummer some south american tricks. we´ve got lots of less actives, but no one is progressing. we found a few new investigators this week, those were miracles, but you can´t really tell how its going to go until the next cita. so we´ll see. we´ve done lots of walkimng and looking. hna plummer only has 1 transfer here, 6 weeks, so shes still pretty new in the area and is trying to rember where everyone lives, etc. 

love you lots!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well I have lots of good news. This week if you remember we had a goal of finding 888 new investigators. We worked hard and prayed lots and pushed ourselves, and in the end, as a mission we found..... (drumroll....) 897. The amazing thing was saturday night we needed 100 more news to meet our goal. So in one day did we not only meet our goal, but go over by almost 10. The Lord moves His work forward. And often, we impede Him. So, as  I realized this week once again, its time to step out of the way and just work, work, work. And thats when the miracles will really start to come.

Im going to my last area tomorrow. Málaga! Its a coastal city with 4 wards and LOTS of missionaries. Its right next to the town where the mission home is. I know my new comp, we´ve stayed in her apartment a couple times when we´ve gone down for tri-zone conferences. Which is now my apartment! Wierd stuff. That kind of thing seems to have happened to me more than once in the mission. I often heard about my companion or met my companion before becoming comps with her. The Lord works in mysterious ways. :)

Since its my last area, I´ve been setting some pretty high goals for myself. I´m going to go out with a BANG! No growing lazy in the last strech for this missionary.

Love you all lots. Have a good Halloween! I´d love photos of everyones costumes! :)

Parts of the family letter too: 

I heard that the church did a movie, meet the mormons? our branch president mentioned it. have you seen it? im very curious.

i haven´t gotten the pkgs yet, i should get them next week. i´m changing areas to málaga!!! its a big, big change. 4 strong wards there and like 20-something missionaries. there are 2 companionships of hnas in my ward. so BIG change, but itll be good. im excited.

with teh goal of 888.... we found 897!!!!!!!!!!! the Lord really bleseses us when we do all that we can. 

 i would like to drop the gypsy family, but I´m leaving now and hna ancalle is taking over. ive been trying to lead her to take over the area because up till now i knew where everyone lived and all the names for planning, etc and she just kind of followed. so i´ve been going silent some so she´s forced to do it. lots of missionaries have a really hard time dropping people. its one thing i don´t have a hard time with, but ive had to learn to be understanding and sometiems do so slower than i would like to for the sake of my comp. even though its the Lords work, we´re all imperfect and sometimes we have to compromise for a little bit.

general conference-- this time honestly since listening to it was such a broken, every once in a while thing, just feeling filled by the spirit and having my testimony strenghtened by the leaders. and lots of focus on FHE. i think htats a mix of general conference and staek conference though, but we´ve been really working on it here.it really does make a huge difference in the unity of a family, i can see it. its interesting the things you see as a missionary, because you´re kind of outside of the normal life looking in. so its easeir to see things sometimes. 

love you lots!!!

Goal of 888

So I was a really bad girl and left this email for last this week. I just loved looking at all the pictures! Spain is awesome,but utah and idaho have better falls.

This week that we´re going into is a special week here in the mision España Málaga. We are having another week of finding and we have the goal of 888 news in one week. Thats 9 news for every companionship. And boy have we been preparing! Our companionship studies all week have been focused on this, we´ve been talking to lots of people and praying our hearts out. I know that there are people in our area just waiting for the gospel and I´m dying to find them! As a mission we fasted this weekend, and we have already seen miracles. The elders here in Valdepeñas had an investigator come to church, and she brought her friend with her. This friend happens to be an old investigator in my area that we lost contact with when I first got here. Her mom doesn´t have much interest so we couldn´t get a hold of this teenager. But she came to church and we ended up teaching YW´s so there was our first new, right off the bat! And she´ll be a wonderful investigator I´m positive. And we really need more youth here in Valdepeñas.

The branch has been waking up and getting back to work and its wonderful. A member had us over to her house to eat and then came to a cita with us to visit Gloria, where we invited Gloria to be baptized again and she accepted the invitation. And now that she has the support of this member things will go so much better. The member even invited her over to her house to see the Resturation video this week, without us saying anything. I love proactive members. And now this same member wants to do a FHE every week in her house. yes!!!

Our leaders here have recently really been stressing the importance of FHE every week. I know from my own experience growing up how important it is. It made such a big difference in my high school years! It made sure I was home and with my family at least once a week, learning and growing together. And as our leaders have been techign us, if you can invite a friend or another family to come, even better. Share the spirit of your home and help others see the potential there homes have!

Its been a nice, warm, beautiful fall week. This next week will be my last full week in Valdepeñas and I plan on going out with a bang. And starting my last area on FIRE!!!! We´re going to strengthen the members of Spain and change the world, one person at a time. Just like the Savior did.

Love you all. Never forget how loved you are by the Savior. He´s done so much for us! I´m realizing this more and more every day. Hope you all have a good week.

Loves,

Hna Woolley 

District Conference

Almost forgot to write this this week! Sorry if its short and makes no sense. This week we had district (stake) conference. One of the blessings of being in europe is that you get 70s to come more often. We had a 70 come from france and he taught us about unity and how to strengthen the district. not grow it, strengthen it. interesting idea, but true. we have to be strong or we can´t really grow. but he said that we should have FHE, and that we should invite our friends and help them feel the spirit. and the missionaries. he said that he and his family are very busy, but they have the missionaries over for 2 FHE¨s every month. He said the key is being well organized. be where you need to be on time. (its a spanish culuture thing to be really late).

President Deere came too and also talked about misionary work and FHE¨s. I can really see the leaders of the chruch trying to get families to strenghten themselves through FHE, family prayers and family scripture study. Because if we aren´t strong as a family, how can we help someone else strengthen thier faith? And once we´re on the right path, share, share, share! There´s been such a big focus on misionary work in the church here, its coming from everyone, not just hte missionaries.

Its cooled down a lot here too, so we´ve been walking around in the rain more. We don´t have an umbrella and my jacket dosen´t have a hood so last night i pulled my scarf up over my head to keep it warm and we walked under the patios so we stayed a lot dryer. but of course wtiht the rain, no one is outside. and it was late enough that the older people were in bed and everyone else was putting thier kids to bed, so we didn´t really have anyone to visit. so we were walking around and joked about teaching the stray cats that were huddled under cars watching us. they were pretty much the only ones outside this late. cats and missionaries. Thats pretty much how it goes.

Love you all so much! Don´t forget what you learned in general conference!

Gen. Conf. Week

I would love to hear about what you all learned in General Conference!!!! It was an interesting conference weekend for us, because we saw the first session two times. And thats it (so far). We went over to a members house and watched the saturday morning session and then ate dinner with them. Then the next day we went to the church and the Branch President had recorded a session to bring for people to watch (no internet in the church) and he recorded this same session.

But in a way, it was perfect. Because the talk by Elder Packer about the atonement was perfect for Gloria, the one investigator who came. Sunday morning we went around inviting everyone we hadn´t invited yet to the conference and we had contact with her after two weeks with nothing. So that was a miracle. We knocked her door and she came down and talked to us. Gloria is working in another town right now and has rough hours so we haven´t been able to talk to her at all. But she´d come home just as we passed by in the morning. And she came and stayed for both hours of the session. It was so great to see her there, soaking it in.

And can I say I LOVE that they let the leaders talk in thier own language? It really makes a difference to hear the speakers own voice, and so its awesome that they can do that. And its just so much easier to express yourself in your native language. So I´m really happy they changed that.

So share with me your experiences from conference! I´d love to hear! We´re going to be watching conference during our study time in the mornings this week, so thankfully i will still be able to see it. Just little by little instead of all in 2 days.

Love you lots! Have a good week :) 

Sept. 2014

Wow, this week has been very different. And special. Wednesday Hna Ancalle was sick so we stayed in all day. Normally when we stay in sick its just for part of the day, but she hadn´t been sleeping well for a month and that mixed with a sore stomach had her sleeping all day. I was pretty bored, but I finished a drawing I promised an elder and read the scriptures and caught up on some sleep myself.

Thursday and Friday we spent going to Málaga for a tri-zone conference. It was absolutely fantastic. I was able to see lots of friends before they go home in the end of October for the last time as missionaries and hear their last testimony. Always in the big conferences those missionaries who are about to go home give a last testimony. There´s a missionary couple who is going home as well and their testimonies were very spiritual and powerful. The room really was just full of love and the Spirit. Hna Roan, one of my very first companions, was there too. She sang my favorite song ´´Savior, Redeemer´´ from 17 Miracles. That song has come to mean so much to me on the mission and to have one of my best friends sing it to say goodbye- that was really special.

Preident Deere gave a very good lesson too. It was interesting, because he gave it in english. I have never seen him do that before, but he said he felt like he should. So those who didn´t speak english very well used translation headphones instead of the newbies who didn´t know spanish. (Theres always a more experienced elder in the back of hte room translating into a mike and those who are new can wear headphones to listen so they can understand.)

President Deere talked about the most important part of the gospel- the Atonement. He had several points and shared several scriptures. But what really stuck with me more than what he said was how I felt. He brought such a strong spirit to the room that really helped us understand his words more. I´ve really come to believe that there are so many things that we can only learn personally when we´re listening to the Spirit. Because really, words don´t express very much. I´ve learned so many things out here that to say them out loud, it dosen´t sound much different than what I said before my mission. But they way I say them and feel them is so different and more profound than before.

But to share a bit of what he talked about, he talked about how we have to study the Fall to understand the Atonement better, and that we need to undesttand how badly we need the Atonment. We talked about how it isn´t that I do my part and Christ makes up the rest, but that Christ has already paid the whole price, and what I´m doing is trying to become more like him so that when we´re in his presence again we want to stay there. And that we can´t become like Christ without Christ. I would have loved to record the talk and listen to it again.
Anyways, yes. Thats what we learned. And it was amazing. And it has me very excited for General Conference! I already have my questions and I´m really trying to prepare myself for this conference.

Also, I forgot to say this last week. But as a mission we are reading the book of mormon in 100 days, starting last monday and finishing Dec 31. i invite you to join us! It´s going to be great, every time I read the book I learn so much.

Love you all so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hermana Woolley

Grape Harvest

Its been another week of work! Unfortunately Gloria didn´t come to church this week, but when we called her later that day she was sick, so that was a relief. We were a bit worried.

This sunday was very unusual. All the men in the branch had to work because its the end of hte grape harvest and its hte last minute rush. So the only men with preisthood in church yesterday were the elders. So one leaded and the other presided, one played the piano ( We´re going to switch off) while the other broke the bread, one blessed and hte other passed the sacrament. The new elder gave a talk and so did I. There were some women and youth missing too so we went and taught the only YW. Us and the elders taught her so that it woudln´t be just 3 of us. Interesting stuff happens when you´re in a branch.

This week we saw an amazing thunder storm. Its the first one I´ve seen in months so that was really great. Thankfully we were in our apartment for the night when it really started up, and we live high enough that we could see it over hte building in front of us. Very awesome.

In the mutual we put on every week the Branch President brought the video they´d made of EFY and we were able to watch that with the youth. It was so great to see, but I can tell I´m a missionary. Because at first every time I saw girls and guys hugging I felt like that wasn´t appropriate. Until I realized that that was me being a missionary. I have to admit, I was slightly  horrified that I´ve become that awkward missionary. So watch out when I come home, cause this girl is going to be one strange RM.

The Branch president also asked the elders to teach seminary. All the members live in an other town thats about 40 minutes away, and the only family that lives here in Valdepeñas they both have big callings (RS pres and 2nd counselor and Ward mission leader) so they can´t really handle any more. They´re only going to teach it once a week in the afternoon because of the rest of the work we have to do, but at least the youth will have some kind of seminary. They don´t always have it here in Valdepeñas, sadly.

Hope everyone has a good week and learns lot! I´ve been really learning how to teach more slimply and clearly with our investigators here. Lots of them need to be taught very simply. Good practice for my kids I guess.

parts from my letter:

The Gitano family is doing good. This week is the aniversary of family members that were murdered so its going to be a rough week for them. But last night the widow was smiling which surpized me because all month she´s been kind of sad. so that made me happy. its not just them that are outside all the time, its spainish culutre. it cools down at like 7 and everyone goes outside to talk in the park or sit infront of their house. they´re houses are fine, nothing fancy but not trash. but that level is defeintately different here, houses are less here than in the states.

im on my off month for iron so in oct ill start taking it again. im going to get a mircoderm cleansing one of these pdays because i did an english translation service thing for the man that owns the store and when i wouldn´t accept any money he offered a discount. and hna ancalle, who is a nurse, recommended these natural pills that im going to start today that are from a plant that will help my hormones regulate more so that should help too. im trying to fix the problem as much as possible. yes, send the pills to the office. thanks!

No, just i teach English, Hna Ancalle dosen´t know English very well. but both elders are american now and they teach the weekly class more than i do. im not a huge fan of teaching English. 

Lots of loves!!
Hna Woolley

Miracles

The miralces just keep coming. We´ve been so blessed here in Valdepeñas. A couple of weeks ago I talked about a woman we´d lost contact with and then ran into 3 times in a row? Well, she´s come to church both weeks. And has decided to be baptized! We are so excited for her!! And she´s so ready. She Is such a good person, has me really excited. She´s named Gloria.

Besides that its been a pretty normal week. We´re teaching more and more. One of my favorite things about Valdepeñas is how many friends we´ve made here. Last night we went and talked to all of our eldery friends we´ve made. I love seeing their faces light up when we come close. Because they´re all pretty bored and lonley, lots of them are solo. Several times this week people have been all, ¨´why haven´t you passed by lately? I was thinking about you?´´. Its so, so nice to feel loved like this. Dosen´t happen very often as a missionary. :)

And even though we aren´t teaching all of them (yet) offically, we´re always looking for ways to talk about religion with them. I´ve really come to learn that if you do it natrually the results are so much better. People actually want to listen. Thats why its so important for members to help, because its so much more natural for you to share your beliefs with a friend than to have us go knock their door. So don´t be afraid to share your testimonies! I´ve heard lots of stories from you guys sharing your testimonies with people and its awesome, I LOVE it. And Heavenly Father does too.

Love you all so much!!! Have a good week.

Hna Woolley

Week of Festival of Wine

I feel so humbled by what we´ve seen this week. It was a huge lesson for me that the Lord is in control of His work and is going to lead us always. 

This week has been the festival of wine. And all 4 of us missionaries here in Valdepeñas were a little worried about how the week was going to be. But we went out and worked and saw more miracles in one week than I´ve seen in my whole mission. 

We found new people to teach. One of was a woman I´d met with Hna Rocha but we´d lost contact with her. We saw her 3 times this week and then she came to church with us. Something has changed and she is so ready for the gospel.

We went looking for an old investigator that we had her building but not her apartment number. We were tocing people to see if we could get in the building and look at the mailboxes for her name. And someone opened the door for us, without questions or anything. When we looked at the boxes there were a bunch on one floor without names so we decided to go knock a door and see if they knew her. We toced a few doors with no answers, and then a door opened and this girl answered the door. When we asked for the old investigator she said, Oh, that´s my cousin. We went in and taught this girl who seems like she´s going to be an awesome investigator. And then when we went back for the second cita, she wasn´t there but the old investigator was, so we were able to have contact with them both!

We found people in home and found futures that were awesome. The youth still came to the activity we do every week even though everyone was out partying. The miracle about this is that the majority of the teens who come aren´t members. We even had 2 new kids come, who also came to english classes the next day, and THEN came to help us clean the capilla the next day, AND to church. They´re muslim. But they´re  hungry for good friends and infulences, and their parents love us.

So many miracles. There´s even more that I could say. But I´ll leave it there so I can answer the emails I have. But its just awesome to see the hand of hte Lord in His work. Before the week started we were hoping to be transfered out of the area for the week. But the Lord showed us that we are in our areas at this time for a very specific reason. Thus, feeling very humbled and grateful for the chance to be an instrument in his hands. IT makes me want to improve and become the best instrument I can be. 

Love you all! Have a good week.

Hna Woolley