Tri-zone Conference

Well... this week was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our area is still the same, no miracles there. But we had a Tri-zone conference with the zones of La Mancha (mine), Granada and Málaga. So I was able to see a BUNCH of missionaries I haven´t seen in a long time. Hermana Roan for the first time since I left Granada, Hna Bangerter, Elders from my old districts, lots and lots of people. It was so great to see everyone.

And I learned a lot. Things I´d learned before but needed a brushing up on, and new tips and tricks for planning better. All of what we learned is going to help us out here a ton. We need help, and I wasn´t sure what else to do to help our area. And every single talk applied to us, how we can plan better and having the vision of ¨two times in white´´. We´re here to do more than just baptize someone and then cut them lose. Its our job too to help them work towards the goal of the temple so they can recieve all the blessings Heavenly Father has in store for them. This conference really helped me refocus, its amazing how it was exactly what I needed. The Lord really knows what He´s doing in choosing His leaders :).

Hna Rocha and I are learning lots together. And gaining lots of muscles, as we´ve been doing lots of walking and we go running in the mornings too. Thus, very tired. We´re having a very chill p-day today I think.

Love you all so much. Remember, missionary work isn´t just for missionarys. And its more than just handing someone a Book of Mormon and then handing over the name to the missionaries. Christ never did that. He loved them, and helped them, and shared what He loved with everyone. Christ converted people through his love and example, not by saying ¨if you would like to know more about my gospel, here´s this phone number.´´ I read a talk on this during the week and it had a big impact on me. The natural result of becoming more like Christ is to do more missionary work. Think about it, it makes a lot of sense.

Love you all!! Have a super week,

Hermana Woolley

Hobo

Well, we have 30 minutes of email time today instead of 1.5 hrs. long story and don´t have much time. but, this 4th of july was one of a kind. started off really great with us going to ciudad real for district meeting. there´s a married couple in our district so they made a american feast for us and the other district taht meet there. GIANT hamburgers, watermelon, potatoe salad, yum!!!!! all was well and happy, until we tried to go home.

the bus we were supposed to take home to go to the ward activity and support the branch didn´t have enough seats for the 4 of us. so we had to miss it, even though we were there in time. so we waited in the bus station solving riddles and playing games until the next bus came. and then we got off in the pueblo that the branch president had told us to get off in to go to the activity... and no one answered their phones. when someone finally answered they told us that someone would come pick us up (it was the last bus of the night. so we were stranded without help). i have never felt so much like a hobo in my life. we had a suitcase with BOM and other missionary stuff we´d picked up and we were basically sitting on the curb for 2 hours. we made bets to see when we´d make it home-- elders won. we´re making them cookies. we made it home just in time to not be late getting in, but without having done any work all day. the story deserves a better telling but im low on time.

moral of the story: be REALLY early for all buses and always carry uno cards.

love you all lots!!

hermana woolley

Valdepenas the birds are conspiring.

I sware, there´s a conspiracy amongst the birds here in Valdepeñas. Because not only was I pooped on once already this week, but TWICE. First day, on my white shirt. As we were crossing a street, with no trees or statues in sight. The second time, in my HAIR. Yes, in my hair. Thankfully we were close to home so we ran in and I washed my hair- I wasn´t about to work for 4 more hours with bird poop in my hair.

I don´t know what it is with the birds here in Spain and me. I´m convinced they´ve had a meeting and decided to bomb me whenever they can. I´ve learned my lesson, I keep a sharp eye out for birds now. They aren´t going to catch me unawares again.

Beyond the birds, Valdepeñas is great. It´s small, I think smaller than Moscow (would you look up the population of Valdepeñas? I´m curious.) But its hard to tell because everyone lives so much more compactly here in Spain. But I feel like I´m in Northern Idaho with a spanish twist. I´ve seen more tractors in the streets in 5 days than I´ve seen in 5 years. (For my Parma family- they raise grapes for wine and it looks like wheat here. But mainly wine.) It´s small and its charming and I felt right at home as we went out to run in the fields. I already love it here.

My new comp, Hna Rocha, is great. Super new still and she has to learn how to talk spanish to non-natives still (not use giant words and slower), but she has the greenie spirit and I love it. We´ve got some great investigators here and the branch is full of kind people. I´m excited to get to work!New area is good, im in love. i think itll be hard, but its beautiful and im happy. comp is good.We didn´t have anything confirmed and so basically no citas for a few days. i´ve started setting solid citas mroe and hopefully it will help us walk around less :)  serving with 2 elders, one of which was in sevilla with me. lots of investigators, several of which i haven´t met yet. a recent convert with 14 years that is great! love her to death already. only 3 YW and no YM, 1 JAS boy from holland. its going to be a very, very different expereicne for sure, but im excited.

hna rocha reminds me more of someone from the pacific islands than someone from peru. her personality is very loud and  very laughy and no shame or shyness AT ALL:

Love you all! Sorry, no picts this week, I don´t trust this computer with my SD card. We´re going to a different place next week.  

Loves,
Hermana Woolley

New Area

And my new area is... Valdepeñas! Never heard of it before? Neither had I. When I looked it up on the map of the mission, I discovered why. It is in the middle of nowhere. Litterally. It isn´t part of a stake, its lead by the mission president. That´s how in the middle of nowhere it is. Sounds like home, right? ;)

My new companion is also from Peru. She and Hna Cerna have known each other since they were 10 years old, so thats kind of neat. She only has 6 weeks in the mission so I´ll be finishing her training. It will be lots of fun, I´m sure :) 

Something else awesome- Elder Ordoñez is going to be in Valdepeñas with me, in the same district again. I¨m really excited, he´s an awesome missionary and it means I get to keep learning from him. He´s going to finish his mission there, so we´ll have lots of fun as a district I´m sure. 

So thats the big highlight of the week. Hermana Cerna´s new companion will also be finishing her mission soon, Hna Cerna will be her last companion. There´s a lot of missionaries, especially hnas, going home in the next 2 transfers. So wierd, because it makes me one of the oldies in the mission. I don´t feel like an oldie, I still feel like I´m just a little kid in a very big world. But thats why we´ve got Christ, right?

Funny story from this week: One afternoon this week I found toothpaste in my hair (no idea how that happened. No. idea.) and Hna Cerna got pooped on by a bird seconds before I discovered the toothpaste. So we stood on a street corner and tried to clean up a little bit. It was kind of silly, I was grateful no one was outside yet. 

Also, favorite scripture from this week. D&C 6:22-23. It really applies to all of us as members. We´ve all recieved a testimony of this gospel, so when the trials come, we have to remember those miracles we´ve seen and the Spirit we´ve felt before. Just like I´m sure everyone else quotes, ¨doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith´´. So true! And so applicable to all of us. 

Love you all a lot! Email hugs,

Hermana Woolley

Hot And Still Happy

This week I have been reminded that Southern Spain is right next to Africa. I honestly think I sweat 90% of the day, including some sleeping time. The only comfortable place is our piso living room, and thats because we blast the air conditioning and have our table basically right under the a/c. We´re hitting about 112 ª F every afternoon. For those of you that are from Arizona or Texas or other such states, remember that I am from North Idaho. Yup. Land of the 70-80ª summers. So I´ve been drinking lots of water and the Spanish version of Powerade. good stuff. 

Besies the heat its been a good week. Its amazing that I can say that eveyr week, but its true. We have no investigators basically and have passed by almost all the old investigators and every less active we know about in our area. We are searching and praying and sweating. But I´m still happy. Crazy, right? Extremely. And it´s all due to the Lord. He has given me so much, and I can feel the Holy Ghost with me, and its such a comfort. And I have hope. I am filled with so much hope for the future, for tomoorow, for today! That today is the day that I will grow a little, learn a little, become a little more perfect. How awesome is that. 

This week I´ve been experiencing lots of what I´ve started calling ´´ Abraham moments´´. Lots of times where I have a prompting to act, even when it seems odd. And sometimes, nothing comes of it. I´ve decided to never question if its a prompting, to just act and show the Lord my faith. Even if no one opens the random door we knock, I showed the Lord I was trying to listen. Just like President Hinkley said, that if it leads us to do something good, it´s from God. So why not? It´s really helped my faith grow this week and I feel like I can feel the Spirit so much stronger than even just a few weeks ago. The Lord just loves to bless us!

Karina is doing awesome. We´re really working to teach her youngest son Greco so that when he turns 8 at the end of the month he´ll be ready to be baptized. 

It´s my last full week in Sevilla. Six months working here, and growing SO much. The next email you´ll be finding out where I´m going to next! 

Love you all! Don´t forget that Heavenly Father loves you so much too. Email hugs!

Hermana Woolley

Cathedral and the Spirit

I just had a dream come true. Not joking. There is currently an item from my bucket list with an imaginary check mark next to it. Wanna know what it is?

We visited this AMAZING cathederal today.

I´ve been eyeying the baby since my first pday in Sevilla, all the way back in January. But no one ever wants to go because you have to go in the morning and its a little expensive for our missionary budget. But its one of the biggest cathederals in Spain, if not THE biggest, and its from my favorite period (gothic) and has all the things I studied last year before coming out. So yeah, I´ve been dying to see it. And today I dragged my district and a member to go see it, and it was AWESOME!!!!!!!!

We had to wait in line for a little bit (obviously. It´s spain and its tourist season) But when we walked into the main room I litterally gasped. My mouth fell open and I think I even teared up a little bit. It was so, so beautiful. I´ve really come to appreciate how much work things can take and when someone really puts their soul into something. The people that built this cathederal didn´t have any other faith than what they knew, and they poured their soul into building this cathederal. And you can see it. It was absoultely beautiful. 

 And I am so sorry, but the internet cafe that we are in, none of the USB drives work. So.... pictures next week. After all that hahah, sorry. 

As for this week, it was a pretty good week. We had a zone conference and I was able to visit with some missionaries I haven´t seen in a long time. It was really fun and the conference was really uplifting. I always leave with more excitement to work and find and share the gospel.

Yesterday we visited with a less active and her husband. They are having lots of problems with their oldest son and so we brought a member who once had similar problems. It was such an awesome lesson. BUT, even more than having a member there, it was that the Spirit was there super strongly. I was praying so hard to bring the Spirit, I think Hna Cerna and the member were too. And boy, was it there. Its a beautiful thing to see the Spirit affect people like it did last night.

Love you all a lot!! Keep listening to the Spirit and you´ll see some beautiful things. And Happy Fathers day this week!!!!!!! Email hugs.

Hna Woolley

Black eye and miracles

Last pday we hung out at the church because no one had any money to go see cool things or eat out. So we started playing with these soft plastic dogeballs the primary has. We have this game where we play dodge ball, but use badmitton raquets and these balls. Super fun, we´ve played a couple times. Well we were playing like normal, but one elder accidently threw a ping pong ball.... and it hit me directly in the eye. Yup. black eye. Thankfully a small one, and its almost gone now thanks to healing salve and ice the first day. But everyone has been asking about it and for a while people would look at me wierd on the street. It kind of looks like i put a lot of makeup on one eye and none on the other. so yeah, crazy story of the week. 

So this week we put together a ward FHE. The Zone Leaders did a lot of the work, but I have to say it turned out awesome. It was super simple, we watched a 15 minute video about John Taylor and then Hna Cerna and I talked about sacrifice. Afterwards we played games like Limbo and some other games from here in Spain. Totally bringing them home to play with you guys. They´re really fun and not hard to learn, but I doubt I could describe how to play them in an email. And quite a few people came, some investigators included. And, of course, there was food. Yum. I love free food. 

I love moments like this FHE, because I think its what the Celestial Kingdom will be like. Playing games and laughing and joking with our families and friends. Of course we will work too, it won´t be playing games for eternity. But that same kind of joy. I get so excited about the thought!

This last saturday we had a really interesting experience. One of the investigators of the Elders was getting baptized. He´s got a really amazing story that I´ll share below. But before the baptism was set we had set up a cita with one of our investigators at almost the same time, only 30 min before the baptism time. So obviously, we had a problem. We tried to get ahold of hte investigator for days but she wasn´t answering her phone or texts. Never  a good sign. We prayed a lot and of course decided to still go, but earlier in the hopes that we could still make it to the baptism in time. Because I was supposed to play the piano and we really wanted to support this family. 

So Saturday we´re still trying to get ahold of her and let her know we want to come over early. We finally get ahold of her about an hour before the cita and she tells us that we can come over, but that she really dosen´t see a point. She tells us she isn´t going to go to church or read the BOM or anything, and she dosen´t want us to waste our time. We decided to still go. I was praying the whole way there and I´m sure Hna Cerna was too. 

We get there, and it is one of the most spiritual citas I´ve ever been in. Hna Cerna and I just listen and testify our hearts out. And there was a huge miracle too. The mom of this girl likes to talk to us a lot when we come over and its hard to keep the Spirit and stay on topic when she joins us. But this day, she didn´t come in and left us with her daughter. So we were able to talk really openly with the girl and have a really good cita. I know she felt the Spirit, even though she still decided she didn´t want anymore, Hna Cerna and I left feeling like we´d both done our part.

And the miracle continues. We hurried to the bus as fast as we can. The cita was much shorter than expected because the mom didn´t interrupt. So we hurry to the bus stop and the bus pulls up just as we get there. The bus ride is a little shorter than normal and we show up exactly on time. Right!!! The Lord was watching over us so much that day. The baptism started late too so we had time to practice our musical number with all the missionaries, ANOTHER blessing. 

Ok, story about the boy who was baptized. I think I might have shared part of this story before but im not sure, so I´ll give the short verison. A while ago Hna Cerna and I were running late to an eating cita. Hna Cerna felt impressed to talk to this lady and we ended up getting her number and address. When we went to visit her we found out she was baptized when she was 9 with her family, but had gone inactive a long time ago. We passed her over to the Elders because she´s in their area and they start teaching her and her son. The woman starts coming to church again and the boy decides to get baptized!! They´re going to be such a huge blessing for the ward as he is the only active YM in the ward. The Lord is moving his work forward :) 

Miracles all the time. These are some bigger ones,but little miracles exist everywhere. Im sure you´ll see them if you look :) Love you all a lot, email hugs!!!

Hna Woolley