Always Something Exciting in Barcelona!!

Hola!

Oh my goodness this is going to have to be a week of bullet pointing topics deal?

1) COOKING: don't worry...you read the word right. Yes, I am learning how to cook. I won't tell you how I cooked an over easy egg to perfection the other day because for some reason whenever I tell somebody how excited I am about that they look at me like I'm an idiot (but that doesn't take away from the fact that the yolk was perfectly intact) but I will tell you about how I have gotten pro at cooking chicken breast. As we say in Spain, poco a poco I am learning. (Before any of you think it's any fault of my mom's that I struggle at cooking anything that doesn't have a clear recipe just know she tried). Oh and I ate coconut ice cream out of an actual coconut, no big deal.

2) FIRE: On Wednesday we were eating and I heard something pop outside and when I looked out there were a couple of people stopped and taking pictures of an apartment building across the street. Then I saw some smoke, we booked it out and an apartment was on fire and it was insane. I have never seen that much red. It was heartbreaking. About ten minutes later the fire department got there and it was just chaos. We could see a man on the other side of the street, who was probably late 20s with a lot of tattoos, just crying and we could tell it was his. After the fire got under control we ran upstairs and got some of the brownies we had just made for a member whose dad just died and gave them to Victor (the man's name we found out) with a card. He was super sweet and I was so happy that we could help him smile in an incredibly hard moment for him.

3) MY CALL: Can you believe it was a year ago last Thursday that I opened my mission call? It's so crazy to think how much has changed since then. Since last October in general my life has changed for the better and I can't imagine my life now without this experience or being anywhere else in the world right now other than in the Spain Barcelona Mission. What a blessing!

4) WALKING: Little by little we are finding investigators and getting more busy but we still have to do a lot of contacting and passing by old investigators. Last Friday we walked up and down steep hills for 4 hours! It was pretty hard and we were super sore afterwards but it was a necessary evil to find out if our antiguos from prior years (all the way back to 2006) still lived in the houses on their teaching records. Plus it was kind of cool because the streets were very stereotypical spain: skinny and steep with one-three level pisos.

5) ENGLISH CLASS: For english class we learned the alphabet and numbers this week and then we played Bingo. To make it a little more fun every time someone got a bingo they had to sing "there was a farmer who had a dog..." and it was so much fun! The Spanish speakers loved it. Oh I love teaching basic english class it's a party.

6) SATURDAY: After english class there was a baptism and Hermana Durham and I sang All Creatures of Our God and King (me singing alto which I was definitely okay with because it's so fun!) then we went to a bachelorette party that the relief society threw in the church because they invited all of our female investigators (the members LOVE investigators it's so sweet). It was Snow White themed and they made the bride-to-be look exactly like her. Wig, make-up, dress, and everything. It was so fun! The investigators and I got to meet and talk with a lot of ward members and it was so fun. 

7) CONCILIO: Today we had concilio and as always it was incredible experience. It's super weird though because it was the last time I am going to see some of my friends from the mission because they are going home before the next concilio. It's just going to get weirder and weirder as the people who go home each transfer become people I am closer and closer to.

So basically Barcelona is going great. We are working hard and seeing miracles everyday. We are working with a few really great women right now named Yudaily, Esneda, Sandra, and Gladis, and a lot of less actives (two of which came to church for the first time in a long time yesterday which was so great). I'm happy and I hope all of you are too.

Thank you for all of your love and support and letters, it means the world to me!

Have a great week!

Hermana Tuttle

1)The Fire

2) Happy Halloween! (A creepy house that we passed by, it made me feel a little Halloween-y)

Living by La Sagrada = AWESOME!

Dear Friends and Family,

I am finally sending pictures (most are actually from this week). I don't know if they'll be all that exciting to you guys but trust me, it was hard to choose the select few I am going to send. I've got tons of pictures (no worries mom) I wish we could use dropbox or something so I could give them all to you but let's be real, they are probably a lot more exciting for me than you guys.

Anyway, lots to catch you up on. 1) My companion's name is Hermana Durham, she is from Salt Lake and she is a doll and hilarious! We get along great and are always laughing our heads off! She has only been in the field for 6 weeks (and she was with 2 experienced missionaries in a trio so she kind of just followed) so neither of us know what's going on in our area right now but it makes for a lot of great adventures! We didn't have any investigators when I got here so we have been doing A LOT of street contacting, knocking doors, and passing by antiguos (old investigators) we haven't seen a ton of success yet but we see miracles everyday and we are working super hard. One day we came home so exhausted that we didn't realize until the next morning that we fell asleep with the light on, window open, and on top of our sheets. Got to love the mission life!

Interviews were this last week and Stake Conference which was great! I got to see President and Hermana Pace Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday which is always great. I learn so much from them and got a ton of great advice. There were a couple of highlights from stake conference that I wanted to email you guys 1) during the adult session a man talked about the Widow's mite; I have heard that story many times obviously but I never thought about it in regards to mission work. I'll be honest, it's hard not to compare yourself to other missionaries but that story helped so much. I might not be able to speak the language or teach or contact or whatever it might be as well as other missionaries but the great thing is that this mission is between me and the Lord and all that matters is that I give my all. 2) In the general session on Sunday, President Pace spoke; he asked all of the missionaries from the congregation to come stand in front of the pulpit. It was the coolest picture as 40 missionaries (Barcelona and Badalona zones) walked through the aisles up to the front. Everyone was gasping and taking pictures (...got to love Spain). When we were all up there he said "these are YOUR missionaries" he then went through each of the wards and had us raise our hands for what ward we were in. It was a great way for people to recognize who are the missionaries they can go and talk to, especially after transfers.

Okay so basically a lot of cool things happen this week but none of them require a lot of explanation so excuse my brief explanations of the following:

Okay so literally everyday there has been something going on at La Sagrada Familia. It's awesome. We do a lot of proselyting around there so it's cool to get to see the festivals and hear the music (one night a live band was playing Rocking in the Free World and the next night some Simon and Garfunkel was playing on the loud speakers). One night for breast cancer awareness La Sagrada was lit up pink. It looked really cool. Then yesterday they were having this big catholic ceremony and they had a bunch of people carrying this casket looking thing (but like 6 times the size of an actual casket) with an enormous sculpture of Jesus. A band of trumpets and drums were following them and then a statue of the Virgin Mary and a bunch more people carrying banners for their provinces or something. This man next to me had something to do with the whole thing. He said it was a once in a lifetime thing, that they had a bunch of important Catholics all around Spain at this mass in honor of Holy Week (which is in April obviously but they decided to do it in October so they could combine all of the provinces I guess not entirely sure)

Anyway, it was a great week. I love the people, the missionaries, the area everything but we definitely have our work cut out for us. But who doesn't love a challenge right?

I love you guys lots! Have a great week!

Hermana Tuttle

The missionaries leaving valencia + Mama Africa

Running at 4am (Las Ciencias, end of the dry river)

Manuel & Rosemary

The Flores Children

Hermana Doris and Hermana Sonia

Belen Mambo, my sister in Spain

La Sagrada - My new home

Crazy Week

Dear everyone,

Well I will just let you know right now the big news: I got transferred. It definitely didn't come as a shock since I have been in Valencia for six months  but it's still super hard. We got the calls Saturday night and I have been called to serve in Barcelona! I am right in the city (la sagrada familia is in my area) it's great. I am still going to be a sister leader trainer and I am finishing the training of Sister Durham (the second half of her 12 week program) so once again I get to go to the training meeting I am so excited! I have been so privileged to go to four training meetings (including my own). I'll let you know more about my companion and my area next week but she is a doll! I can already tell we are going to get along so well.

But the worst part of transferring (I know it's bad to start a paragraph with but, but I didn't want to make the paragraph so long that it would give you a headache, excuse bad form for ease of reading) was for sure saying goodbye to the people. I avoided telling most people that I might be leaving until I found out for sure on Sunday evening but a lot of people guessed so the goodbyes started early this week. Cesar, an investigator of the elders, long story why we are helping the elders every once in a while, has been investigating since I got to Valencia so I have gotten super close and when we taught him with the elders he said the prayer and blessed me that I would never leave and that I would stay in Valencia. It was so cute! Then on Sunday when Rosemary (investigator) found out from an elder it was the WORST! She bawled and I told her we could email and she could send me photos of her baptism but she kept saying "it's not the same it's not the same" super sad. I'm going to miss her like crazy. Then after church the morning two wards sang God Be With You Till We Meet Again. It was the worst. There were so many crying. I totally got choked up not going to lie. Another hard goodbye was the Flores family. We did a family home evening with them last night and the sixteen year old daughter Heidi said the prayer and as she prayed for me she started crying and later on when we were leaving she ran after us with tears in her eyes and gave me her bracelet that she always wears. It was so cute!

Anyway, onto less sad stuff. This week really was pretty noteworthy but I don't have a lot of time so just quick summaries: We couldn't have district meeting in the chapel so we went to a castle that wasn't too far away. It was so cool! Then another crazy thing the Valencia missionaries did was we got up at 4 one morning and ran the dry river! It was gorgeous! Oh and I scraped up my left leg a little when I tripped yesterday morning because I was running for exercise time rather than packing (surprise, surprise I left packing until the last minute). I'll send you a picture sometime it's kind of cool. It swelled up a bit. I'm an idiot.

Sorry the end was kind of rushed but I've got to go. I love you guys! I'll write again soon!

Hermana Tuttle 

An Exciting Week

Hola!

Alright so to start off can I just tell you that I seriously ate like 8 chicken hearts this last week! No complaints the Hma. Mambo is the sweetest person ever to make paella for all of the missionaries in between conference sessions yesterday but I do think I deserve props. They had the pulmonary trunk and everything! (ya, I kind of miss anatomy) They were only as big as a quarter or something and tasted just like chicken but whatevs that's pretty much the most exciting news.

Oh wait! Nope, I have got something else super exciting. So this week has been rough not going to lie. I'm able to find miracles in every single day of course but the area is just a little slow at the minute and to add to that Rosemary has started to check out. I don't know how much is appropriate to write about but basically it's just a tricky situation with a husband who isn't totally supportive but they still came to conference which was awesome (Manuel even came to the priesthood session). Anyway, we were super worried we were losing her and we didn't know if she could really feel how much we love her and how she can trust us but then last night as we were street contacting around Benimaclet before it was time to head back home we ran into them talking to a member! When we came up they smiled and said "We are talking about our testimonies!" After a little talking the member left, Manuel started talking to Hermana Barker and Hermana Walker and Rosemary started talking to me. She said: "I had a dream about you last night Hermana Tuttle (well she said Chuddle which was super cute), Manuel and I had gotten in a fight and he left, I laid down and cried myself to sleep when I had a dream that you came up to me and said 'levantate. Toda estará bien.' (get up, everything is going to be okay). I was a little confused but then the phone rang, it was Manuel. He apologized for everything and said 'let's go for a walk' and on that walk we ran into a member that helped us a lot and now you." She started to tear up a little and just said, "I have never dreamed that clearly about someone Hermana. I have never trusted someone the way I can trust you. I know with you I can say anything and you would never judge me. You have been the angel God knew I needed." It was one the most incredible moments of my mission. Odds are I am going to get transferred this next week where I have already spent a third of my mission here so I won't be able to see her get baptized but I'm so grateful that I got to be a part of the conversation of such an incredible woman. It makes me think of the hymn More Holiness Give Me "More used I would be."

General Conference was nothing short of amazing, I still haven't seen the Sunday afternoon session and haven't had a lot of time to look over my notes but President Uchtdorf's, Sister Reeves' and Elder Christofferson's talk are the ones that stick out most in my mind right now (no surprise those three are always at the top of my list). Especially President Uchtdorf's quote: Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith. I had a lot more quotes that I loved but I left my notebook at home, I'll include a couple more next week. Oh and just in case anyone besides my mom has interested on the little details of missionary life most of the stake watched General Conference in our chapel here in Valencia. The big room was obviously spanish and then there was a room for missionaries and Nigerians to watch it in English. We sat in there and ate tons of junk food it was rough! I have never eaten so much sugar in a weekend because not only did we have General Conference but it was Hma. Walker's birthday on Friday so I made her some Blueberry muffins and then we made Funfetti cupcakes from the mix her mom sent (but that's okay Hma. Barker and I went running this morning and then we played football with the zone today)

Well those are some of the highlights of this week. Hope everything is going fantastic back in Utah. Way to go BYU!

Love always,

Hermana Tuttle

Pic 1: Relief Society Session

Pic 2: For my Alfred Hitchcock loving dad :)

October

Dear Everyone,

Sorry this is a couple of days late. The first week of the month I don't have a preparation day because I have leadership council in Barcelona but better late than never right?

This week once again had its ups and downs. We have been teaching Manuel and Rosemary a lot but it's kind of a tricky situation right now. She is really wanting to be baptized and she is progressing really well but we are having a little bit of trouble with her less active husband. He is super sweet but he doesn't really understand the importance of the commitments we extend to both of them. So we kind of have our work cut out for us long story short, but we are thinking she might be baptized next week if we can figure a couple of things out. Prayers.

On Tuesday I went up to Barcelona for an intercambio with the sisters up there. On the train ride up I got to talking (I know, SO unlike me) with this guy sitting across from me. He was a middle-aged architect with 3 kids and we talked for like an hour and a half about religion and about all of the buildings he has designed around Spain and France. It was super cool. When we got off I gave him a Book of Mormon with a little note and some scripture references in it and our card. He had already begun to hand me his card and when he say the book he said "well this doesn't seem like a fair trade for you." He is atheist but he said he would read a little of the book of mormon so we'll see how that goes.

All day Wednesday was my intercambio which was a blast! The girls I was companions with were so great and the area is BEAUTIFUL! They just opened the area so they don't have a lot of investigators so we street contacted and knocked a ton of doors. We had some great appointments too and gave out a lot of Book of Mormons. It was a great day. We ended up getting like 12 numbers and several return appointments.

On Saturday we ate with the Wardells again and it was so great! We had breakfast food for lunch! We ate pancakes with REAL AMERICAN MAPLE SYRUP! (Maple syrup doesn't exist here so it was amazing) We also had fruit and bacon and this egg, potato, and mushroom casserole it was all amazing.

So you probably don't remember but several months ago Hermana Shaffer and I had an absolutely golden investigator named Alejandro but his dad thought we were rushing him too much so we had to stop teaching him. Well since then he has come to church a lot and I continue to greet him and check up on him just to see how everything is going. Anyway, great news! He wants to serve a mission! He wants to get baptized now as soon as possible. Unfortunately he just moved out into his Grandma's house so he is no longer in our area (which kind of broke my heart a little bit) but I could not be more excited for him!

Monday as I said before I had leadership council and it was amazing. We said a kneeling prayer in the middle because we weren't sure what our mission goal for this month should be and it was so powerful! President Pace offered it and several people were crying. I love concilio, the spirit in that room is always incredible.

Well I think that is all the key points from this last week. It was a lot of traveling but it was still really good and I think this week is going to be great. We are just trying to find more investigators because our pool is dwindling right now and the people we are teaching aren't really progressing anymore besides Rosemary.

Oh and by the way, transfers come up on the 15th so it might be smart to start sending letters to the mission home now just incase I get transferred.

c/ calatrava 10, 12 bajos

Barcelona, España 08017

Love you all thanks for all of your support,

Hermana Tuttle

1) Trying to do a hand stand on the right side

2) Trying to run

...most of the rest of my pictures I'm falling, we were awful at it!