Monday, October 14, 2013
Transfers
Hi,
This week so much has happened! It´s been awesome. This
weekend our Zone went to the Alhambra (castle outside Granada) after Zone
Conference. Normally zone conference is on Tuesday and pday Monday, but we
canceled both those things and did both on Saturday. The Alhambra was so. so.
cool. I was dying all day. I took some art history classes my last semester at
BYU and so I knew a few things about the architecture and stuff. And the view.
Jolin! It was gorgeous. It´s like what you´d seen on pintrest of Spain. I´m
blessed to work in such a beautiful city.
The Alhambra also has an art museum. None of the art was
super famous, but I was still drooling because it was all originals starting
from the 14th century. My companion had to drag me out of the museum because
everyone else was waiting for me. I could have spent three hours easy in just
the museum.
We took a bus to the right part of town and then had to walk
up the giant hill to reach teh actual castle. The walk reminded me of utah, it
was so green and there were little streams on both sides of the path. It was
nice to have things cooled down, though everyone was definitely getting a work
out! Only the Jaen missionary´s weren´t hurting (think San Fransisco and that´s
what there city is like hills-wise). And all the steps in the castle were HUGE!
It was like taking steps 2 or 3 at a time. I know hna brown and I are both
sore, I´m pretty sure the others are too. But it was so, so, so fun. I actually
felt a little bit like a tourist. It reminded me that I´m in EUROPE! How crazy
is that? I´m living in one of the cities that people travel from all over the
world to visit. And I get to see it all.
This Saturday was a holiday too, it´s Columbus day or
something like that, we aren´t really sure. I´m really glad the buses were
working, we weren´t sure they would. But after the Alhambra some people had to
go work or go back to their areas and others of us didn´t. So we wandered
through downtown (my area) and tried to visist a few cathederals. They were closed,
but we found some other awesome things. Like this man with like 20 Eagles and
falcons in the middle of the street. They were all just lined up next to a
park, chillin on thier little stands. No idea why. But it was super cool.
Hedwidg was there and a Bald eagle and some other super awesome eagles. We
found some cool stands with jewelery and food. Everything was being made right
there. I bought a pair of earrings that I´m very excited about.
So, the moment mom´s been dying to hear about. Transfers. It
was a funny thing. It was cool because the whole zone was together so we were
able to hear about lots of people right away. usually president calls pretty
early in the morning but because there are so many more missionary´s he was
behind. Our area is the last area he calls so we weren´t called until like
noon. The phone was passed around from Elder to elder since we were all
together just to make it a little easier. Lot´s of people in our district have
been here for 6 months or longer so they were all expecting calls. It was fun
to celebrate with everyone as they were excited about their new areas. A lot of
people got their reassignments all at once and then the rest were waiting to
get theirs later.
We were walking to another part of the Alhambra when Hna
Brown´s phone rang. She froze for a second before digging through her
bag. Hermana Brown and I weren´t expecting a call since i´m in the middle of a
transfer. But she is leaving to Jarez to become a SHE (the new calling for
sister missionary´s, kind of like zone leader) and I´m going to be with hermana
Ronds. everyone says she is amazing so I´m really excited to meet her. Hermana
Brown was pretty surprized, but all the Elders had been guessing we would be
split up. I´d thought we might, but I was thinking it was my usual worrying
self, not anything real. SURPRISE!!!! We are splitting after only one transfer.
Half of my district is leaving because they´ve all been here for so long, so it
will be a totally new district. We´re getting one newbie too. I´m excited to
meet all the new missionary´s and sad to see the others go. it´s hard realizing
that I might not see them again until a reunion after the mission or something
like that. But what can you do? I´m just glad I got to get to know such great
missionary´s and learn from all of them. I´m really excited and nervous for Hna
Rond. It´ll be a test to see how well I know our area. Hna Brown made a cheat
sheet for me the other day of all the bus routes and we´ve been looking at the
map more so I can get a better idea. I´m not too worried, we have a map to
carry around with us :).
Poor Hna Brown has been frantically trying to say goodbye to
everyone. It caught us by surprize that she´s leaving so she hasn´t been
preparing anyone. We visited one of our old ladys last night and she starting
crying when Hna brown said she was leaving. It makes me so grateful to know
that I can see all these pepole again in the next life, if not when I come back
to Spain after my mission. I love Granada so much, its such a beautiful city
and has such amazing people. I´m so glad I get to stay here for at least 6 more
weeks. I love you all a lot!!! I´ll talk to you soon.
hna woolley
Monday, October 7, 2013
Family and Friends
Hello everyone!
Thanks for all the emails, I have a ton this
week, sorry if i don´t get to everyone!
Wasn´t General conference amazing? I haven´t seen the Relief
Society broacast or the last session sunday night yet, but we will. I loved it
when all the members were challanged to reach out to someone by Christmas. I
re-emphaize this challange. Its so important to share and helps the
missionary´s so much! We´re almost starting over this week because we had to
drop so many people, and we don´t have very many references to contact. I
can guarantee that the missionary´s in your area value every name you give them
as something treasured.
I really loved the quote Uchtdorf said that ¨doubt your
doubts before you doubt your faith¨. It´s so true. The mroe I learn about the
gospel the more questions I have that I know won´t be answered easily, if ever
in this life. But I´m okay with that because I have faith and trust in Christ
and I know that I can keep learning and eventually I´ll get my questions
answered.
There´s this American family in the ward that had us over
for the Sunday morning session of conference. We watched it live and ate dinner
with them. It was so much fun, she has the best kids. Hermana Brown taught the
girls how to make no bake cookies while I helped clean up. They were sooo
gooood. Peanut butter here is different, it´s thicker and has a slightly
different taste. It made those cookies even better. The elders were gobbling
them up. All of us missionary´s were able to watch it at her house because the
Nigerians she originally invited canceled last minute so there was room for everyone.
Earlier that day we tried to make brownies but that didn´t
work very well. the lights were out in our piso (apartment) that morning so our
oven was too. So we went to cook them at the church before the Sat morning
session but the oven waas funky and even though it said it was on bake, it
broiled the brownies. So the top layer was black. But all the missionary´s and
a few other friends huddled around with spoons and ate what was underneath. It
was kind of like brownie soup. Not quite batter, not quite brownies. Kind of
wierd, but still good. We had fun and the Elders didn´t make too much
fun of us. ;)
This week's letter is a little short but I want time to answer
emails. I love you all! I´m so excited to hear more from you all! Send pictures
and they´ll make it onto my wall of love with Tyler's drawings!!! And read the
conference talks. You have no idea how blessed you are to be able to do that,
and to hear conference in the prophets voice. It´s one of those things I didn´t
realize was a blessing until I got here. There´s a member of the bishopric who
is learning English because he wants to be able to listen to conference and
hear the prophets voice.
Love you all!!
Hermana Woolley
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)