Lo que el Señor me ha enseñado

Queridos Familia y amigos,

Here we go again, another email...weird. Does it seem like time is literally speeding up lately, crazy, but enough about that, onto more important things:

Joan Pau, he is great!!!! Everything is going really well, he is coming to all of the activities, he has had a meeting with the bishop about getting the Aaronic priesthood, he came to the baptism on Saturday just because he wanted to (it wasn't even for our ward), he goes out on visits with us and the elders and he's just basically amazing. The other day we went to his house and he invited one of his friends and we + a member who is just about to leave to his mission in Tampa Florida did kind of a family home evening, I taught them how to make pancakes, hermana ward made the syrup and then we had a spiritual thought, after that we headed out to the weekly activity the missionaries host at the church and Joan Pau's friend couldn't come but he invited his little sister Ana. He's a missionary already.

Anyone who knows me well knows I'm not one for "this is my last ____" I handle change just fine after I don't have a choice and the damage is done but the anticipation is the hardest for me so I try not to think about it...as my mom, who basically did all of my packing and preparation for the mission, can testify better than anyone. But there are a few "lasts" that I will allow myself to mention only because they are things that have truly changed my life and are things that I will forever cherish. Yesterday was my last leadership council meeting "concilio". It's been almost a year since I got called last August to be a sister training leader and I can't believe. I remember my first concilio, one hermana was going home and President asked her to share what the Lord had taught her. I remember wondering what I would say if at the end of my mission I was in that place. Since that day it has become a tradition so yesterday I, and several of my heroes in the mission who are going home this month, got to share Lo que El Señor me ha enseñado. Maybe in the future, in person, I'll go into more detail but to keep this from getting horrifically long I'll just share the key points of what I said yesterday: 1) To never underestimate today. You never know when one experience you have or one person you talk to today will change the rest of your mission/life, 2) To trust in the Lord because He trusts in us, he sends us to the people who does and to the places we are for a reason. Esther 4:14 3) Prayer, that God really does answer our prayers. That miracles happen everyday if we just have the faith and diligence to do our part. Everything works when we're working. and 4) the power of a testimony. Before my mission I was never able to say "I know," I believed of course but I wanted to be able to say like Brother Reed Beus and so many other heroes of mine: I know. That was one of my main reasons for coming out here. There are still things I'm learning and things that I don't quite understand but they'll come in time but I am grateful for the fact that thank you to my mission there are 4 things specifically that I can say I know. (I'll leave that to another week). I did pretty well at not crying until at the very end when President shared his testimony he said "I got a bunch of emails recently saying that a lot of you had hit your year mark (the huge group of 42 missionaries that came in last year)" he then stopped and looked down at the ground and then back up and with tears in his eyes he said "there are a missionaries who are well beyond a year"....and then the tears started coming. It took me the first two verses before I could finally sing the final hymn.

This mission thing is beautiful.

Hermana Tuttle

1) All of the new sister training leaders, I wish I had a picture of the group when I got called last year all of which are long gone. So many new faces, this mission has a very bright future. I am kneeling next to my first companion in the MTC. Hermana Bracken and the really tall blonde in the back is Hermana Benson who I will be coming home with. I love them both DEARLY!

2) Saying goodbye to "Elder Thorpe"

Joan Pau, Pilar, Vilafranca

Querido Mundo,

I'd love to give a nice little intro then tell you about a few of the miracles we had this week and then save the best for last but let's be real I am just WAY TOO EXCITED!!!! Yesterday I got to see my best friend be confirmed as a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Joan Pau, one of the sweetest people I have ever met who I have been working with since the day I got to Sabadell got baptized and confirmed this weekend. It was hard not to get emotional when he entered into the water all dressed in white as I got to witness so many prayers and fasts get answered. He had three siblings there and his dad came and then one of his sisters, his two kid brothers, and his dad came to the confirmation yesterday. Joan Pau asked me to bear my testimony and to say the closing prayer and afterwards his dad, who I had only met once before, came up to me, grabbed my hand and with such sincerity looked me in the eye and said "thank you for being such a good friend to my son." Coming from someone who before had no interest in his son taking our lessons it was a beautiful compliment and one I will remember for the rest of my life. Joan Pau came on his first lesson with an investigator last night and said he'd love to come with us to any lessons we have this whole week. He's going to be an amazing member!

Another miracle is a family of a less active member, Pilar, who we have taught several times but her children have always been at school. Now that the kids are on summer vacation she lets us teach them and as crazy as they are (they come from a VERY unstable family situation) they are so sweet when we are there. We have passed by them three times this week and yesterday as we sang I am a Child of God, they not only stopped yelling and listened but on the third verse they started to sing along and then they just kept begging to sing more. It was adorable. They all now have baptismal dates for the 9th of August (except for Rocio who is only 7). Another adorable moment was when Samuel (11) and Juan (9) started explained to Harold (8) their cousin who we met for the first time yesterday how to pray.

Last main highlight of the week: For my intercambio this week I went to Vilafranca. It was beautiful and I absolutely loved it. Our schedule was jam packed and I about died though from all of the running. I have never ran up and down hills so much in my life! That's what happens when you are in a town that has very infrequent train schedules. But it was great we had a wonderful lesson with a girl who also ended up getting baptized this weekend. She had to make so many sacrifices when she decided to be baptized but she just knew. Her testimony is so strong and it just gave me chills to hear how the Lord prepared her for this step.

As always, I am happy, I am loving my mission and just feel beyond blessed for all of the miracles I am seeing everyday. We had a really successful week this past week and we are pumped for another.

Lots of love and prayers,

Hermana Tuttle

Back to the long ones: Joan Pau, Intercambio, Mireya, and Tania's Mother

I am one happy missionary. I am in one of the most beautiful places in the world, I'm feeling good about the language, I feel like I know the ward pretty well, I know the area, and the greatest, I am hearing and seeing answers to my prayers every single day. I can truly say that I am a witness of miracles.

This Saturday is the baptism of Joan Pau! Can you believe it???? I am so excited and happy and grateful and everything! This area hasn't had a baptism for about 8 months and now someone who we have been working really hard with for several months and who I grown to love so much and who said he didn't think he would ever be baptized is not only getting baptized this Saturday but is excited and is inviting everyone!

This last week my intercambio was in Zaragoza which means guess who I got to see!!!! Hermana Noakes! She is doing great and is really working hard. My companion for the day was Hermana Dorgia from Italy. She is amazing and we had an absolute blast. She taught me how to say a few things in Italian, how to pronounce the letters as I was trying to read the Book of Mormon, and we made two different types of pasta: one for lunch and the other for a cultural activity. It was the greatest! She is such a hard worker and it made me so excited for the direction this mission is going (she is still in her training).

Yesterday we had a visit set up with a women who has canceled on us three times. During church she called us again to tell us that she had to move the visit but she moved it to later that night so "menos mal" but we knew that if she cancelled again we had to stop trying for a little while. We invited Nair (the less active woman who is coming back to church that I have mentioned before as an absolute miracle) and the visit was AMAZING!!! Nair teared up as she testified of the spirit she could feel when she walked in and then Mireya said that she felt the same way that she had someone begging her to come over and when she said no that she had a visit with us and that she wasn't going to cancel it again her friend kind of teased her about it and said you're not really going to meet with them are you but she said she felt something tell her so clearly that she needed to open the door. She said in the past she has always bailed out on the missionaries but she said, I think God is telling me that now is my time. At the end she asked if we believe in life after death and when we said yes she said do you believe we can be with the people we love forever and when we said yes she began to tear up and said that's exactly what I want.

Speaking of families being forever this last week we went to visit a woman in the hospital who is older and was just in that waiting period. All of her organs were shutting down, she could only move her eyes but her eyelids were almost entirely closed. When we visited, her daughter who is a less active asked us to sing her favorite hymns, How Great Thou Art and I Know That My Redeemer Lives, when we did that the daughter, she, her mother in law (non member, Spaniard), her father (non member, brazilian), and even her mother began to cry. It was such a powerful moment. I wish I could tell you all of the spiritual experiences that we had with her and that the elders had with her but I'll have to tell you when I have more time and space one great thing was that she was given a little strength at the end and despite everything she was able to remember what church she belonged to, who her savior is, and told her husband to listen to the missionaries, to be baptized, and to return to the temple in a year so that they could be sealed together and he said yes. It was beautiful. She passed away last night, we showed up to the hospital to visit very shortly after which we were grateful for because we were able to comfort a little then this morning we went with the elders to the ambulatory (??? I don't know in english...the funeral place... ish?) help them get everything ready for the viewing. Tomorrow we will go to the funeral. It has really helped me to appreciate my family and my life and time and the plan of God and everything.

Well I have to go but I love you all so much!

Hermana Tuttle

P.S. I don't have any pictures from this week so I will just send this one from when we went to the Barç stadium. This is me and Messi being mad about the world cup finals. (I didn't really care who won but I didn't have any pictures with german players)

Intercambio, Fabiola, Amable

Dear everyone,

Okay so three things for this week:

Intercambio to Martorell: This week I went to Martorell, a town outside of Barcelona about an hour and a half away from Sabadell. It was beautiful but wildly hot! I got to work with Hermana Gillette and Hermana Stott (who is brand new). They pointed out that apart from one hermana I am the next one to go home (along with Hermana Benson) so I am now what we in Spain call...OLD. It was so weird to think about that because I still feel so new and I feel like everyday I am still learning so much especially on intercambios. Here I was working with two relatively young missionaries and learning so much from them. It made me realize what a bright future this mission has, we are seeing miracles everyday and I'm sure that is happening in every part of the world. I feel so blessed to be a missionary and I sometimes just wish I could stay here forever, I don't want to miss out on all of this growth but I am so glad I am getting this opportunity and I know that I have still have a lot of miracles left despite being "old."

Amable: I'm going to go a little out of order. This story is to be continued, so just a heads up I'm going to keep it short. We always see this homeless man named Amable on the streets. I don't remember if I have already mentioned it but he has stopped by to listen when we have street lessons with other people so the other day we started talking to him. He doesn't ask for help from anyone which really sparked my attention anyway long story short we have found him a place to shower, found him clothes, an elder is going to cut his air and he has agreed to come to church this week. I'll keep you posted.

Okay now for the miracle: So remember how I told you about Fabiola. She and her husband have been less active for 15 years. We started helping her to read a couple of months ago and her testimony of the Book of Mormon has become so strong and I think I told wrote earlier about how she said even if she only gets one vacation day all of next year she wants it to be a Sunday. Well last thursday she and her husband Cesar came to the activity we have every week and they ran into so many old friends that they said they would for sure come on Sunday even if they could only come for a little bit because of Fabiola's job. On Sunday when we saw them on the bus Fabiola told me she had a miracle to tell me. Someone called the other day offering her another job, a better job and where she doesn't work Sundays. I don't know what the unemployment rate for Spain is right now but this "crisis" has rocked the country and no one can find work so to have someone just call you up when you weren't even in the market offering a job is nothing short of MIRACULOUS. She called her boss and her boss respected her decision because it was for her religious beliefs. I started tearing up and was speechless. I still am. What a blessing from God.

I love you all so much. I am still seeing miracles every single day. I hope you are too.

Hermana Tuttle

Hma. Ward, Concilio, and News

Dear everyone,

Another week...are you serious? Time is just flying. So many miracles to see here in Spain, so little time! Alright three main topics here: News, Hma. Ward, Concilio....not in that order.

Hermana Ward- My new companion. She is as sweet as can be (all of my companions have been the sweetest girls ever...I think President is trying to tell me something), she is from Virginia, is several inches taller than me and we get along great. I have been so spoiled with companions, I have gotten along so well with all of them.

Concilio- Yesterday we had leadership council (hence the picture with Elder Thorpe who is now a Zone Leader). It was super powerful. We had some really good discussions going. I always learn so much from these meetings not just from President and Hermana Pace but from the other missionaries. There's something absolutely priceless about being in a room of 30 kids around 20 years old from all around the world who have given up everything for two years and dedicated themselves to the Lord. Something that we talked a lot about is "hastening the work." President Pace asked us for examples of when people in the scriptures despite opposition acted with purpose....that might not make a ton of sense to you but I don't know how else to describe it in english. It was cool to see how many times in the scriptures we could find instances that someone was hurrying or moving swiftly to do the work of the Lord. I talked about Paul in Acts a little bit but some of my favorite examples that other missionaries shared were Abish and how she ran from house to house to gather people in Alma, and Ammon who after saving the king's sheep (which had to have been exhausting) went directly out to feed the horses and despite exhaustion and all that he had already done that morning he kept serving. I also like President's example of Joseph Smith and how the night Moroni appeared to him 3 times he collapsed he was so exhausted and yet with Moroni's command he ran to tell his father and then as his father directed he followed Moroni's instruction and climbed a hill to un-bury the plates.

News- okay this was the miracle of the week. This week, in part due to transfers and a few other things that limited our time we struggled at finding new investigators. We usually shoot for 6 but by friday night we hadn't found a single one and with the goal of the mission each companionship had to find 6. I prayed so much! I know that other areas have a really hard time even finding one new but in our area it's not as hard and I just prayed so much that we would be able to find the six that the mission was praying each companionship could find and by an absolute miracle we found 4 on Saturday and 4 on Sunday to end the week with 8! It was incredible. Our zone had an average of 6.21 per companionship which, considering we usually have 4 or lower as an average it was beautiful. I know the Lord is putting in our paths that are ready to hear this message and I am so grateful to be a part of His wonderful work.

Lots of love,

Hermana Tuttle