Ups & Downs

Hi! (this exclamation point refers to the happier version of me that is choosing to focus on what my purpose is  here in Valencia and ignore heartbreaking things that happened in football this past weekend)

So this week was fun. It had some high highs and some low lows but overall a ton of miracles.

So to follow up, our family home evening last monday went great. Nube's boyfriend was there and he was so sweet. He asked a lot questions and was really paying attention to the answers. The little girls had a fun time singing to us Las Familias Pueden Ser Eternas (Families Can Be Together Forever) that we taught them and they pretty much all have memorized.

Tuesday I did my first intercambio (companion exchange) as a sister leader. I did it with the girls from my piso (Hmas. Steenblik and Floisand) and it was great! I  feel  so lucky!  I get to learn  so much from so many people as a sister leader and as a trainer. I feel totally spoiled and I just hope that they are learning  something from  me too.

Wednesday was Zone Conference. It was amazing! (no surprise) I got to go to a leadership meeting that morning with the district leaders and zone leaders so it was an early  start but President Pace gave us a great little lecture on reaching our goals and  that success/growth isn't whether or not we reached  the goal but rather  in what we learned  as  we  are reaching. I also got to teach a little part at zone conference about steps to a successful baptism so that was cool to be able to participate. At the end we had a testimony meeting and it was so powerful. I can't think of many places you can feel the spirit stronger than in a group of 30 missionaries sharing their testimonies. 

Then comes the big miracle, Manuel and Rosemary. Manuel was baptized 16 years ago but after a few years he moved to Spain and lost contact with the church. He saw the missionaries  the other day and he stopped them. He and his girlfriend (who is not a member) are wanting to change their lives. He never wants to miss a day of church again and she really wants to be baptized. We taught them a few lessons last week, they came to a baptism on saturday (they sang the hymns louder than anyone, it was so cute they felt  the spirit so strong), and church on Sunday. They love it all. When I introduced Manuel to the bishop  he started  crying as he talked about him finding the missionaries. It was so cute! The only issue is the law of chastity. They have some problems that make it hard  for them to get married so that is currently what we  are trying to figure out but they are AMAZING.

The rest of the week  was a little  rough. A lot of appointments fell through and the hardest part was when Beto called talking about a bunch of anti-mormon stuff he found on the web. Despite our best efforts to explain a little bit about how  the things he read were completely untrue and to testify to him the conversation ended with him saying "it has been a pleasure to get to know you guys, thanks for everything but I'm not interested." He's felt the spirit, I know he has and because of that I know he will find his way back one day. I don't think I will see it but someday he  will read the Book of Mormon and know it is true. Nevertheless, even with a lot of appointments falling through we were still able  to fill  our time. When one door closed another opened. We were very blessed.

I know this email is WAY TOO long already but I HAVE to tell you about what we did today for preparation day. 

First we played a little football with the elders (super hard when you can't even do two hand touch across the genders but it was still  fun) then at The Sciences (really cool buildings that is basically the postcard for Valencia and are surrounded by water) we got into these plastic balls individually and tried to run around the water (it was hard  to even stand up but absolutely hilarious). If you can't picture it no worries, I took lots of pictures but I left my camera at piso so you'll have to wait until next week.

Love you! Do good things! Talk to you next week!

-Hermana Tuttle