November 3rd

 

And the new companion is.....HERMANA KNOWLES!! She is really cool. She is from Boise and went to BYU-Hawaii for a year, but she´s going to byu after. I really like her. She is like ridiculously beautiful (everybody kee`ps calling her "La Mormona Guapa"). She is still learning Spanish, but is picking it up so fast. I really am enjoying having her- we have GREAT goals, work hard and have so much fun! And its fun having hermana andrus here with us.

Do you remember S.. from back when I got here? The guy who left jail and was really repentant, had a baptismal date and dropped us? HE´S BACK!! We met with him a few times this week and he is ready for the gospel right now. He accepted another baptismal date for november 22nd and is really progressing. He even told his friends from his old church that he is really interested in learning about the mormon church and finding hte truth. I love moments like this.

 

RANDOM THINGS

I´ve been having chili cravings, but it LITERALLY doesn´t exist here.  My food list: sushi, ivars, pasta, steak and potatos, thai food, gnocchi soup. Uhmm next week i´ll bring my list with me so you can get the full effect. I really want tacos too.

 

We´re now going through the new investigators deciding who is progressing and who is not and we are shifting our focus around on some people and off of others. Its great. I really have a great feeling about this transfer! My comp and I work great together and are just going hard on our area!! I honestly don´t feel like I go home in just 6 weeks. But I want to keep that feeling so I just keep working hard and focusing until the end. This is such a blessing training right now!

You better be grateful I already committed to going back to school in january because if not I would have asked to extend a transfer. I love my companion. Knowing already that we will only have this transfer together makes me so sad and seeing that she has her whole mission ahead of her makes me want to continue and do it with her too. So count your blessings that I can´t extend because I seriously considered it when I met the new missionaries!

 

This week i´ve been studying the war chapters in Alma and I´ve been comparing it a lot with the war with satan. What a big difference it makes when we are all unitied from the inside out and prepared, because the adversary cannot even enter into our territory. BUT the second we begin to let up and think we are alright, he strikes and its much easier to maintain your land than to win it back, so we should always be prepared!!

My message for you this week is one of my favorite scriptures righ tnow. D6C 128:15. Our ancestors are waiting for us and they need us and we need them. We cannot be saved alone nor can they. We all need to connect the links between the generations adn do our family histroy work and do their work in the temple. I know that the day that we choose to follow Christ, our ancestors began to REJOICE in teh spirit world knowing they became one step closer to salvation.

i love you all.

hermana folsom

October 27th

So this week is FINALLY transfers! Okay that sounds like I´ve been waiting for it. It's just weird cause I knew 2 weeks ago what was happening with me so its been an odd wait. I´m bummed that Hermana Hurtado is leaving though:( We love each other. She is going to SEVILLA! So jealous... BUT the plot has thickened with me... Remember my redheaded hija, Hermana Andrus? Well she has foot problems and has to spend some time down so she is coming to live with me and my new hija and she will study and sleep with us but then during proselyting time, she´ll go to the office and be the first ever "Office Sister."

This week was finding week again for the Misión de España Málaga. Our goal this week: 888 new investigators in one week. Each companionship needed to find 9 new investigators in one week. Our week started out great- we met person after person after person. THEN we hit a ROUGH patch on Wednesday and didn´t find ANYBODY all day wednesday and thursday. I actually kinda broke a little on Wednesday. But Friday we woke up and did a GREAT weekly planning and decided that it was a new day. And in 1 day we found SEVEN NEW INVESTIGATORS!! By the end of the week we as a companionship had found 14 news. It was truly a week of miracles. We worked so hard and saw incredible things happen and now we have a LARGE pool of investigators to teach which will be great for my new hija who comes on Tuesday!

One of our news is C... He was found in a member´s home last week and we called and met with him for the first time on Tuesday. C.. is from Colombia and works as a waiter at a restaurant. He doesn´t have a lot of time, but is super interested. We read with him the promise in the Book of Mormon and it really interested him and he read 3 Nephi 11 like 3 times! He said he wanted to continue, but really wanted to understand what we left him and he even related it to his life and had been pondering it for a few days. He said after he read, he tried to remember the 3 things we invited him to do, but couldn´t find the promise again in the book, so we re-explained it and he committed to pray about the book! He is so sincere and I can see he really wants to know if its true. His friend asked me about him on Sunday and he was so happy and they actually had been talking about the book too! Its great cause his member friend is less active and is coming back to church, so its great for him too to be able to support his friend! I love this work!

 

RANDOM THINGS

 I ate feijoada this week! Did you ever eat that on your mission? We ate it with a Portuguese member who just moved from the elders´ area to ours (poor elders... ;) ) and has already invited us 3 times over to eat at her house just this week! She said its a little different than Brazilian feijoada but still the same principle. It was surprisingly good! And we have a brazilian member who also lives right next to us who is going to prepare us a Brazilian feast soon:)

 

An.. and Se.. are still waiting for a date. The juzgado takes forever cause everybody goes there cause its free. Teh ayuntamiento costs like 100€ but they can do it in like a week. an anonymous donor from the ward has offered to help them with that so they can get married faster, but idk if they´ll accept it! They are looking up about that this week.

 

 My scripture for you is Alma 37:44. This way really is so easy. All we have to do is like the children of Israel in the desert when they were plagued with the snakes and just had to look upon the cane and live. All we have to do is look to Christ and follow 5 simple steps and live. But we aren´t even capable of that sometimes! I get frustrated with people here because we give them simple answers to their problems: read, pray and come to church and the Lord will tell you this is true and help you. But they won't! It frustrates me, but also helps me see how I want the rest of my life to be as well. I love this work. I love this gospel.

LOVE YOU SO MUCH FAMBAM!! HAve a great week!!

Hermana Folsom

October 20th

 

Ra... SUCH A ROLLERCOASTER! On Tuesday, he was GLOWING. Seriously, he had this incredible spirit about him all weekend and we were excitedly planning his baptism. Wednesday was excellent and he found out that he was going to be able to stay in the kiosk during the winter too! BUT then there were some family trials.  He cried all day Thursday and Friday because of what family members said and did and when we went over on Saturday it was like back at square 1 with him. The glow was EXTINGUISHED. We had planned to go to his house for the first time and had a member with us who is preparing to go on her mission in December so we could go in his car and everything, but when we got their, he said he didn´t feel like talking religion and that we could just go to a restaurant and talk. So we went to a restaurant and the first thing he did was look us in the eyes and order a beer! The spirit was NOT there. The longer we spent their talking with him, the oddest thing happened to me. I had this odd heat spread from my stomach up to my ears and the more time we spent, the less I could hear until we reached a point when I couldn´t hear ANYTHING they were saying, it was just a loud noise in my ears. I cut him off as he was explaining to us what happened with his family and I said, "I cannot hear a THING any of you are saying. We have to leave. Now." So they all got up real quick (I guess I said it kinda strongly...) and we went to the church. As soon as we entered into the church, the ringing in my ears left and the spirit FLOODED into all of us. We had a great lesson with him and helped him see that during hard times is the WORST time to forsake God. He was really repentant and committed to coming to church and to prepare to be baptized next weekend. I am so grateful that we got to bring him to teh church because it changed EVERYTHING! We called him before church to make sure he was coming and he goes, "Hermanas, where are you! I´ve been here for 30 minutes already!" HE CAME TO CHURCH EARLY TO MAKE SURE HE WOULD COME!

We went with S.. and An.. to the townhall and witnessed their papers so they will get a date on Wednesday! We had a perfect lesson with them afterwards at the mission home with the Deeres. I can´t wait to be an awesome member present like them someday! It was perfect and they helped them so much. I love this little couple. And the YM are all obsessed with S..! Haha they are all asking to come over and hang out with them! Its hilarious. Almost every week they have somebody over. Its because they are the only young couple in the ward and S.. is super fun. I am so happy. He cracks me up cause he goes, "I just know taht the second I have my rights as a member, I am going to get a calling in YMs." And its so true. Ha I love that couple!

So the other day I was asking myself, "Really, how many people from how many different countries have I taught?" So I started writing it down. I HAVE TAUGHT PEOPLE FROM 42 DIFFERENT COUNTRIES DURING MY MISSION!! What the heck! I don´t think you could say that anywhere else in the world but in Spain. I love this multiculture madness here.

RANDOM THINGS

 

Funny you should talk about continuing at home. I´ve begun my list of people with whom I need to share the gospel with when I get back. I think those few weeks I´m at home will be some busy ones. The problem is I DON´T KNOW HOW TO BE A MEMBER MISSIONARY! It will be odd taking the backseat in lessons and backing up what the missionaries teach. But I still have a LOT of time to be the missionary still!

Hmm we teach this persian guy that works at a bar by our house and in his downtime, we go teach him inside while his clients all get drunk outside (bars are different here than in the states. It's like more of a restaurant or a cafe) and he always gives us hot chocolate or herbal tea or something and so we were sitting inside by the counter talking to him yesterday when this DRUNK woman staggers in to pay her bill. She starts speaking in really broken Spanish and I asked where she was from and she told me she´s scottish, so we started talking in english. She ordered another drink and points at it, looks at me and goes, "Oh shoot. This is my 3rd. Tomorrow, just hot chocolate and a chocolate cake. I´m going to regret this later." And she proceeded to tell me the story of her life. She was so drunk but like really rational and was like, "You know what, my daughter lives in Ireland with her mormon aunt and uncle. Here is my number. Lets talk next week. I need God in my life."

 

I look forward to being able to talk to people whenever I want (like friends and fam) but I´m going to miss being so involved in this work. I love seeing people change and seeing the joy that comes from them accepting the gospel. Even being a member missionary, its not the same.

My scripture for you is Alma 31:26-35,38. I need to improve my personal prayers. This prayer by Alma is incredible. He sincerely prays for the people who he was there to serve and he is really just TALKING to his Father in heaven. I included verse 38 too because this really hit me this week, they were exceedingly blessed during their ministry among the zoramites and this is the reason we are given why: "Now this was according to the prayer of Alma; and this because he prayed in faith." Prayer has SO much power. As we pray in faith, miracles really do happen!

I love you all so much. I want you all to know how much I love this work. I loved Elder Bednar´s talk from Conference because it perfectly explained why I am here. Sometimes members tell us, "Oh thats so nice you came out here to experience the world and to learn." And I get a little annoyed when they say that and try to say (with as much love as I can put into my voice) "I am not here to experience life. I am not here to learn Spanish. I am not here to enjoy Europe. I am here to invite others to come unto Christ. I am here to help in the work of salvation. I came out that I might save but one soul. I am here for the eternal salvation of my brothers and sisters." I testify that this is the work of salvation, this is not my work, but His and He is here to help us in it. I am so grateful to be here serving Him as a full-time missionary and SO grateful He has permitted me to be but a small part in the salvation of His children. I love this work. I love you all!

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/come-and-see?lang=eng

Hermana Folsom

October 13th

 This week was the feria of Fuengirola, aka it was a crazy week filled with horse-drawn carriages, flamenco-clad women  and NOISY but COOL attractions. It was a fun week, but interesting work-wise!

First of all... on Saturday I received a phone call from President Deere and... I´M GOING TO TRAIN... again. I´m going to start the training of a new hermana for my last transfer. Woah. Well this means NO being trunky for me cause you can´t be trunky with a newbie, you have to work hard and be nice. Haha President is a smart man.

We called Ra.. on Wednesday and he goes, "Hermanas, I´ve been thinking and I´m going to get baptized with you." WHAT?!?! Then he said he made a promise to God that his priorities from now on will be God, family, church and then work. HE IS INCREDIBLE!! The ward LOVED him yesterday and they are great. He has a fecha for this Saturday, so here´s for hoping that all goes well and as planned. He gave us this HUGE bag of gifts- he gave each of us these nice pens that everybody uses here and a bunch of stuff from his kiosk. He loves us and we love him! Hopefully next week I´ll be sending you teh pictures of the baptism!! He´s so cute, he goes "If I had to choose between winning the lottery and meeting you two, I would pick you both any day. I am so grateful you entered my life and brought me the gospel!" GOLDEN! He´s going to make a great member... SOON!

S.. and An.. got their papers this week!! They will find out on Wednesday the date of the wedding. i´m praying it will be SOON!! Pray for that too!

We went to the English branch yesterday and hearing church is English again sounded so odd to me. I actually didn´t like it. I don´t want to leave Spain!

 

We met this Nigerian man last week and met with him for the first time on Saturday and he had read the introduction of the BoM already before our lesson to prepare and he had a bunch of questions. when I invited him to come to church, he said no. Haha I testified and promised him blessings if he came and he still said no. we were getting ready to leave after the spanish ward and then I saw Uc.. inside with teh English branch! We ran back inside and sat with him during sacrament meeting. He liked it, but wanted to know why we don´t do worship and praise sessions. I was like, "Its really reverent here." He´s cool. We have another cita with him this week. here we go!

Something that Neil Maxwell said reminds me of what your mission president said, "the only thing we have to give to God is our desires." The only thing that He has not given us that we can give back to Him is our hearts and our desires. I really liked that.

I went to Malaga on intercambios this week and young couples from my ward when I served there a year ago all have babies now. Its odd seeing changes even during my mission!

I love you so much. Have excellent weeks! Live long and prosper.

Hermana FOlsom

October 6th

 

Conference was the best! We got to go to the Deere´s and had a conference brunch all us from Fuen on Sunday morning and we watched the Saturday afternoon session. I felt like I was in the states! We even ate CINNAMON ROLLS! Best day ever. I learned so much and I am excited to watch the Sunday afternoon session later this week (we have to watch it during studies...)

We met this INCREDIBLE couple this week. C.. is from Uruguay and L.. is from Ukrania and they are so humble and so prepared. She is 7th day adventist, but hasn´t gone to her church in awhile and when we contacted C.. in the street and he talked to her about us, she felt she needed to talk to us. We met at the church on Saturday and gave them a tour and they loved it. They felt the Spirit so strong. They are seriously golden. Just ONE problem. Go ahead. Guess it. THEY AREN´T MARRIED. Grrr.. Our ward keeps calling us the matrimoniadas (matchmakers, like the wedding girls) because we keep finding perfect people who just need to get married. Everybody is asking me on the wedding process here now! Hahaha I have fame here I guess! They are so humble and have an incredible knowledge of the Bible. I can already see them as members participating in Sunday School classes!

Ra.. is progressing like no other right now! He says he believes that the Book of Mormon is true. We had a really great lesson this week when we explained baptism and read about Christ´s baptism and he goes, "This is my next step, isn´t it?" And we were all, "YUP!" And so he said that if he feels peace at conference on Sunday that he will get baptized on October 18th. He called us a few days later and said that he made a promise to God that he will come to church! Then when we talked to him after Conference, he goes, "That was it?? I want more! It was too fast!" And he was so impressed by President Monson. AND HE FELT PEACE!! He´s getting baptized on October 18th:) I love that little old man and he loves us. He is like my Spanish grandpa. I can´t wait for his baptism!!

 

RANDOM THINGS

So we do english class at 7 on Thursdays when we teach English and share a message. Then the elders come at 8 and members and whoever else wants to come and we have a short message by us or the elders and a game and a snack. Its a chill FHE but its a really great activity that most of the areas in our mission do cause it allows investigators and less actives to come to an activity that is chill but still spiritual and gets them involved with members. Something I´ve learned on my mission is that good activities don´t have to be huge. Just that there is SOMETHING for people to be doing. But of course, the big activities are the ones you always remember, but small things keep people involved and happy! We don´t have church on conference weekend, but its actually better for people cause its later in the day (6pm) and so they ALL come and bring friends:)

My favorite speakers were Elder Kienghat (sp?) and his talk about spirit self esteem and also Elder Robbins and his question "Which way do you face?" I loved conference. We watched the women´s conference during priesthood but I didn´t have the option of watching in English since I was the only one which made me sad, but I´ll print and read President Uchtdorf´s talk in my language later. I LOVE my mission language, but the Spirit speaks to me better in English, ya know?

I COUNTED HOW MANY TIMES THEY QUOTED HELAMAN 5:12 TOO! They also quoted it int eh Women´s conference. Also they talked a LOT about how the 2nd coming is coming FAST and we need to prepare... now!

It's funny remembering my moments before making covenants with God or doing big things and it puts me in the place of my investigators. Often times we ARE prepared to do things like this and in the end it will GREATLY benefit us, but for some reason we are hestitant to just take the step and DO it! Investigators feel the same way. But once we´ve done it, we are like, "duh, why didn´t i do this sooner?" I laugh when I remember when I went through the temple. I received my call at the end of January and mom and dad made plans to come to UT just a week later to do a session for me to receive my endowments. When they made those plans, I was like, "oh my gosh. There is NO way I will be ready to do this in a month!" But mom and dad were both so supportive and helped me to prepare. I went to temple prep, I talked to my bishop and stake president and I seriously fasted and prayed and I found that when the date in february came to go to the temple that i WAS ready!

 

My thought for you comes from the talk by thtat guy from Uruguay who spoke in Spanish. I loved the question he presented, "What would you do if you were to have a personal interview with the Savior in 1 minute?" It reminded me of soemthing that I studied this week as I read the Book of Mormon, Alma 5:27, "Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? That your garments have been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to redeem his people from their sins?" We should always be ready.

I love you all dearly and hope you have an excellent week!

Becca!

September 29th

I decided this week the top three things I am trunky for: 1) AFFECTION 2) iPhone. I keep having dreams that I get home and I use the same phone I have here on the mission and I throw fits until you buy me an iPhone. its weird. I guess I´m superficial. 3) Dad´s cooking. oh. I forget the REAL number one. I´ll call it 0) THE TEMPLE. Just so you can get a little peek into my head right now:)

On Monday, we witnessed the most beautiful thing ever. S.. and An.. invited us, the R.. and Je.. (a joven that comes with us all the time) to their house for FHE and S.. said he had a special lesson for all of us to hear. He opened up reading a scripture about marriage and then told us a little bit about his and An..´s story. Then he GOT DOWN ON ONE KNEE AND PROPOSED TO ANDREA!! It was so awesome. WE were all screaming and crying and she was more surprised than all of us. It was beautiful. I feel honored to have been thought of as one of the people that had to be there that night. I love this family. They should be getting the papers from Argentina TODAY and then all they have to do is ask for an appointment and THEY ARE GETTING MARRIED!! I am stoked. Then TO THE WATER!!!

Since we started doing a missionary FHE every Thursday last week, we saw some real growth this week! We had 9 people including the missionaries last week (ahhaahha) but this week we had like 20!! And they LOVED it, we played zip bong (the game where you can´t show your teeth) and they were all dying. Its cool seeing how excited people are getting about coming to church AND Ra.. came! We had talked to him earlier this week and he had told us that he was going to come if it rained on sunday and the Lord made it RAIN and he still didn´t come. Turns out he sold NOTHING during the 3 hours of church and said that clearly the Lord wanted him at church. We said, "you said it, not us!" it was great. He BETTER come to church this sunday or else...

RANDOM THINGS

 Get this: WE are doing a conference brunch at the mission home for everybody in fuen. I am STOKED. IT will be like being at home!

 

Okay one cool insight from my studies this morning: I was reading Alma 32 and LOVING this parable of the seed. But as I read v.35-36 it reminded me of another scripture I love a lot, 2 Nephi 31:19. Both basically say that after exercising faith, repenting and acting on this by being baptized that "behold I say unto you nay" it is not all! And then both chapters finish off talking about being patient and diligent to the end and WE WILL PRODUCE GOOD FRUIT and rejoice in the celestial kingdom. It was cool drawing parallels between two of my favorite chapteres in the Book of Mormon.

I had my last zone conference on Friday (they only do them every other transfer) and it was really good though- both President and Hermana Deere gave their talks in English which was different. but they said that they both felt they needed to. For me, it was a GREAT experience. I understand Spanish perfectly, but something about your own language just touches you. There are a lot of new missionaries right now so thats why they did it.

 

Wait what peruvian food is de moda right now? Sweet cause i am learning how to cook it like a maniac right now! one day I cook and the next day she does and we teach each other our foods. She´s pretty obsessed with my spaghetti carbonara and i´m obsessed with  EVERYTHING SHE MAKES! We eat rice at every meal. I feel like i´m finally serving in south america.

 My scripture for you this week is Mosiah 2:20-22. Even if we spent all of our time, talents, energy and EVERYTHING in serving and praising the Lord, we would not pay the SMALLEST part of what He has given us. WE really are nothing in compared to Him. We can do nothing in comparison to what He has done. But despite all that He could ask us to do for Him, the only thing He asks us for is our OBEDIENCE. In this perspective, I am willing to do anything for Him, I am completely willing to obey knowing that He has given me all that I have and am. I love this gospel. I love my Savior. I testify taht this is HIS work and that as we do it with Him, we will never fail.

I love you all so very much. I hope you enjoy conference as much as I am going to and that you learn SO much! LOVE YOU!!

Hermana FOlsom

 

September 22

We  had some cool stuff happen this week, A.. and S.. sent the money to Argentina and they should be getting the papers from his mom on Friday so then all they have to do is go to the townhall and ask for a date!!!! THEY ARE GETTING MARRIED SO SOON!! They called his mom while we were there and we all cried when she said that she was getting the papers this week and sending them out tomorrow. It is so ridiculously exciting! The ward is already planning their reception:) I AM SO HAPPY.

R.., the man from the kiosk, is beginning to progress again! He loves us, he´s like our cute little old grandpa here in Fuen. He said he can´t put the book of Mormon down and he received an answer that its true! The only thing holding him back right now is that he works every Sunday. He said the day it rains, he´ll come to church. Well we prayed all week and it rained on Sunday... and he didn´t come:( I´m actually pretty bummed. But he is really feeling the excitement and learning so much right now. ITs cool to see him progress again. Just gotta make it rain next Sunday too I guess!

Since I invited you all to share something from your studies this week with me, I thought I would share something as well. I have the goal to finish the Book of Mormon before December and as I am going through it, my love for this book grows so much. I love how often the first authors of the book, Nephi, Jacob and Enos all speak about how it is for a wise purpose and that they are writing it so that we may not forget that they believed in Christ, that they followed Him and they taught their children of Him. It is so incredible that the whole book was written for their brothers, teh Lamanites, and while they are writing this great work for them out of love so that one day they may come to the truth, the lamanites persecute and try to kill the nephites! That is some pure love of Christ right there! I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, written for our days and that by living the principles we find in it, we can be worthy to return and live with God again!

 

RANDOM THINGS (gleanings from her paragraphs to individual family members)

I definitely agree with what you said about teaching them to recognize the spirit is the most important thing they can learn. We´ve been studying that a lot this week in training and its so true. To know that what we are teaching is true, all they have to do is read some of the Book of Mormon, and pray to know if its true. The hard part is so often they wait for an experience like Joseph Smith, when many times is just a feeling. ITs the hardest thing getting people to recognize their answers, but when they do, thats when conversion happen. There is a phrase that I love in Lesson 1 of PMG, "As we begin to feel that what we are learning is true, we will desire to know all that we can about the Restoration." And its so true!!

You should read "the Continuous Atonement" by Brad Wilcox. His daughter served in our mission and gifted it to all her comps and I took her place in Dos Hermanas when she finished her mission, so I read it while I was there. ITs really good!

Don´t be too sure that being on my feet for 13 hours is normal. I actually prefer sitting because it means we are TEACHING! The weeks when my tan begins to fade are my favorite weeks cause it means that we were inside most of the day teaching. But yeah I do also have days when we just WALK AND WALK AND WALK and nobody loves us. Haha then we go to members and ask referrals and they give us water and let us use their bathroom.

 

My favorite part of being a missionary is that EVERYTHING that I do has a purpose: Invite others to come unto Christ. My life is simple because all that I do connects to this. Every moment of my day is planned and I have an entire manual, the scriptures and the Lord telling me what I should be doing. Being a missionary is actually easy in that aspect because you don´t have to second-guess. This is the salvation of His children, so the Lord makes things pretty clear on what to do!

 

I miss Dad´s cooking, just in general. HE cooks really well (PORK ROAST AND MASHED POTATOES). I will most miss the culture and the history here. The US doesn´t have as much of that. Actually we don´t really have history like they have it here in Europe.

I love you all so much and hope you have excellent weeks!

Hermana Folsom

September 15th

This week was nuts. Yesterday at church, I saw a girl and thought, "Wow, she must have just gone to the bathroom and taken her bun out. Pity, it was really cute." Then I realized SHE WORE THE BUN TO CHURCH LAST SUNDAY!! This week went by so fast I am confusing the weeks at church.

Cool story of the week: On Thursdays, we offer service at a soup kitchen until lunchtime and always leave STARVING and as we were walking home, this REALLY GOOD bakery that is on the walk home came to my mind. BUT we were planning on taking the bus home and the bakery is beyond the bus stop, so I was like, "well if nobody is at the bus stop it means we missed the bus so we will keep walking and go by the bakery on the way home. SO if nobody is at the bus stop, we can go to the bakery, but if there are people there, we´ll wait for the bus and just not eat donuts." When we got to the bus stop, there were no people to be found, so we kept walking. I said nothing about the bakery to my companion, but I really could NOT get it out of my head! I was thinking about how ridiculous I am and how food driven I am and almost didn´t suggest going to the bakery, but right as we passed it, my feet took me into it. Seriously. I know you are all laughing right now but it was so odd. Here I am, standing at the counter, feeling like a total fatty whose feet lead her to chocolatey goodness when the lady working at the counter looks at my nametag, looks at my face and with shock in her eyes goes, "Where is that church?? I have been looking for it since I moved here to Fuengirola. I´m from Mexico and I´m baptized and everything!" THE LORD LED MY STOMACH TO THIS LESS ACTIVE MEMBER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Weirdest revelation I have ever received in my life. We got her number and are meeting with her now! We just laughed afterwards when we realized what happened!

Sad news: N.. did NOT give permission for C.. to be baptized this Saturday:( She wants to do it all together, but she´s not ready at all to be baptized and recognizes it but she wants C.. to wait for her, even though C.. just wants to do it NOW. She cried during the lesson when her mom said no.  I know the day she comes to church, she will be jumping up and down begging for us to baptize C.., but she´s pretty depressed and refuses to go to church until she feels better. I don´t know what to do to help this woman because she really is clinically depressed, but has no money to see a doctor or anything. BUT neither she nor C.. can progress until she gets better.

Happy news: S.. and A.. sent for the papers. THEY SENT FOR THE PAPERS AND NOW THE NEXT STEP IS ASKING FOR AN APPOINTMENT AT TOWNHALL AND THEY ARE GETTING MARRIED. I am so happy.

 

We did a musical number in church yesterday, "Savior, Redeemer of my soul" and it was BEAUTIFUL. One of the elders in our ward was first chair violinist in all his orchestras and the other is an incredible tenor, so it was the perfect combination and I loved being able to accompany them. I love music.

I have a sad story for you. We watched "only a stonecutter" with a less active this week and there is a scene where the son is reunited with his family for the first time in years and as they hugged, i started to cry. It was too close to home. This week you would be happy to know we were fed everyday but Saturday and Sunday! The members are taking good care of us and really making sure I don´t look skinny when I get home!! hahaha but it's okay cause I LOVE south american cooking. So much rice.

 A story that happened at church actually happened saturday at church. a 70 came to Malaga to give a fireside for missionaries and investigators and we thought it started at 630, so all of us from fuen got there at 630. Turns out it started at 730, BUT right as we got there, there was a woman standing outside the church and she went up to us and asked if she could go in. We said of course and went in a gave her a tour of the church. She said that she has passed by the church before, but it was all closed up but that she wanted to go in and she had been standing outside and was about to leave when we pulled up and she felt she needed to talk to us. As we showed her the baptismal font, she said that she is looking for a church to be baptized in and that she wants to do it like Jesus Christ. We invited her to baptism and she said yes!! She lives in the area of the Assistants to President, but man this woman is incredible. She stayed for the fireside and loved it. If we hadn´t gotten the time wrong, she would have left and we might not have ever met her.

 My funny story for the week is that we were walking to a lesson and were turning the corner around a building when a man on a bicicycle coming from the other direction was doing the same thing and SLAMMED on his brakes right before plowing me down. As he stops, he looks up saying sorry and then really looks at us and goes, "WOW!! QUE GUAPASSSSSSSSSSSS (How good looking)!! Una morena (brown) y una blanquita (white)!!" it was hilarious and all we could do was just laugh and walk away. One really nice thing about spain is that you never have to worry about your self image because all the men in the street will remind you that you look good. I have just become accustomed to being called guapa (good looking) or preciosa (precious) or bonita (pretty). Its really nice.

LOVE, hermana folsom

September 8th

Sunday dinner!!

Teaching Pablo Picasso.

Hello beautiful family, friends and assorted loved ones. How is everybody doing?? Missing me terribly, right?? :)

 

This week was crazy. So.Much.Rejection. But at the same time, so many really cool miracles and so many great things that have happened as well!

First of all, we teach a 12 year old girl, C... She´s from Argentina and we met her in a really cool way. when I was with Hermana Lionetti still, we were looking up a former investigator and when he wasn´t home, we both felt really strongly that we needed to knock the doors on that floor, taht there was somebody there who needed us. So we knocked and nobody else was home until we got to the last door. We knocked and a woman, Noelia, opened. She is from Argentina and told us taht she has never really had any interest in religion but that something about us itnerests her. So she let us come back and it was a perfect first lesson- the woman even cried with us and told us that she wants to come to know Christ and that she wants to read the Book of Mormon. We came back the next time and her daughter, Candela, was there. We gifted her a copy of the Book of Mormon and the girl can´t get enough! she loves reading it and she loves praying. She told us there was something she ahd to tell us that she felt embarrassed saying in front of her mom, so we came over and chatted while her mom was at work and she told us that she prayed, received an answer and taht she knows that the Book of Mormon is true and that she wants to get baptized. She has a fecha for the 20th of September and she came to church on Sunday and LOVED it. There are 2 other girls her age and they all were laughing and acting like besties by the end. ITS SO COOL!! . I am so excited for C..!!

We met the biggest Paraguayan I´ve met my entire mission this week. This guy isn´t just big, he´s HUGE. And SO STINKING HUMBLE. We taught him on Tuesday and it was perfect. WE told him we wanted to give him something and when he saw the Book of Mormon, he got all excited and said, "I promise i am going to read this. I want to change my life. I want to learn more and do this." He even committed to baptism on teh 27th and gave us referrals!! He´s incredible. Then we got a text on Wednesday saying that he can´t continue, so we called and he told us that there are rthings in his life he can´t change but he knows they are wrong and so he can´t continue. We pleaded with him to rethink the decision and to just pray about it. He told us that he read the book and felt SO GOOD but that he´s made this decision. It was HEARTBREAKING. I just keep praying for Heavenly Father to soften his large heart and for him to call and say that he wants us to come back and that he´s ready to change his life.

We had interviews with President this week and mine was actually pretty long! We talked about everything and anything and he actually told me I need to start planning for after the mission. It was so weird, but he said he prefers for me to do it cause its better to come home to a plan and something set. Also he told me its very likely I will stay in Fuengirola for the rest of my mission. SO WEIRD. It was a great interview, but kinda trunky, talking about my post mission plans.

 

RANDOM THINGS

Things are definitely looking bright for S.. and A.. They asked for how long Hermana Hurtado and I will be together so they can figure out the date for the wedding with the ayuntamiento (uhmm townhall?) and so they know they have to do this thing before the end of October, so they are feeling some good healthy pressure:)

 

Our prime finding time is the same, 5-10pm, cause people are at home, or coming home from work and whatnto. I would say I do the majority of finding around 7 or 8. With our members we do many different things! Its depended on the area and to what degree the members are involved, cause I´ve had some areas where it was like pulling teeth getting member involvement so we have to get creative, but here they all freely share! One thing that I love to do with members is share a miracle I have seen with my companion that week so they can see that there REALLY IS work in their area. I think a lot of times, members get into their heads that there is no work in their ward, or that they don´t baptize, but its all about attitude, so I like to open their vision and let them see that you can baptize and help people everywhere!

The senior couple in the office fed us yesterday and she made beef roast and mashed potatoes and I was SO HAPPY- a true Sunday dinner for the first time in over a year!

My companion wants to learn English, but she is still learning. She understands a lot, but panicks when she has to speak and no matter how long I spend forcing her to practice lessons in English, when we get to it, she just stares at me and says, "NO PUEDO" but she totally can. She testified BEAUTIFULLY the other day in English using words I haven´t even taught her!  I wrote her a list of things she can testify of, and the last one on the list was "I know that what my companion says is true." Thats become her favorite:) I keep telling her that now she undesrtands how the rest of us feel when we come to Spain!

Christ is everything. Yesterday we were talking to a recent convert who is fighting with his parents and his mom found his Book of Mormon and made him throw it away. I began to cry when I heard that, which surprised me, but as I thought about it, I realized why it affected me so much. The Book of Mormon is our sword. WE are at WAR with satan and it pained me to hear that Se.. was going into teh battle without his sword, unarmed and unprotected. I felt such sorrow and I realized how important the Book of Mormon is. We aer reading it as a mission again and my goal is to finish it before the end of my mission. Spend time everyday in the Book of Mormon, you come closer to God by reading the Book of Mormon than any other book.

Have an excellent week! LOVE YOUALL!!

Hermana Folsom

 

September 1st

I made enchiladas.

 

Holy moly the weeks are just going by faster and faster. I can´t believe its SEPTEMBER already.

Updates on S.. and A.. They continue being our miracle family. S.. earned the money this weekend that they need to send for his papers and as soon as they have those (it can take anywhere from 1 week to 3 months to come) they can GET MARRIED!!!! A.. told me the other day that she "wants to get baptized already!" Haha they are so great. A.. cannot get enough of the Church. She started indexing and doing her family history ON HER OWN! She has seen almost every video on mormon.org and she is sharing the gospel as well! They opened up their home for us to use to invite investigators in and they are inviting their friends to learn more. I am seriously obsessed with them. I have never met nor had the privilege to teach somebody like this before in my entire mission. They are incredible. They refer to us as "tita folsom y tita hurtado" to the baby even:)

I lost my hija. On Friday we did intercambios and the hermana who I was with got on the train to go to Malaga and Hermana Hurtado was supposed to get off that same train that just came from Malaga. BUT as the train pulled in, everybody got off, everybody got on, and the train left. And Hermana Hurtado was nowhere to be found. Mind you, I´m alone in a train station now. PANICKING. I called the office missionaries, the SHE´s, EVERYBODY and it turns out she had gotten off on the wrong stop, but didn´t know our phone number, but had a passalong card from being in Malaga, so she went to a locoturio nearby and called those hermanas and they called me. So I called the elders and they accompanied me to find her. Probably the most stressful hour of my mission! Haha but the good news is I HAVE MY HIJA AGAIN! I now know what it feels like to lose a child... oh man. I´m keeping a close eye on this one from now on! haha naw she felt so bad for causing so much trouble, so I couldn´t even be mad!

RANDOM THINGS

 

I´m feeling LOADS better now, since like Wednesday I´ve been doing well.

We have a lot of investigators that are really great right now, we have 3 different investigators working towards baptismal dates in September- A.., L.. and C.. (a 12 year old investigator from Argentina). And we are finding still! We are seeing a lot of success right now as we get to know and work better with the members. I have never received so many referrals before in my mission. Its so cool. One of the members commented, saying that she has had some friends prepared as referrals for awhile, but has been waitign for the right missionaries to come and she feels like we are the two that are meant to teach them!. The members love missionary work.

 

What you wrote about doign family history reminded me of this talk from general conference: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/04/live-true-to-the-faith?lang=eng I´ve become so obsessed with family history. The apostles have called my generation to do it and when I get home, thats my next mission!

What you said about the art gallery is incredible. Thats how I felt in Madrid when I went to the art museum and saw "Las meninas" and other pieces of art I have only seen pictures of! Sometimes I forget how cool it is that I live in Spain. I´ve noticed throughout my mission that I have phases where we teach people from different regions of the world. Cubans, colombians and ecuatorians, bolivians, spaniards, and right now its paraguay, argentina and uruguay. We are finding so many people from there! Its fun learnign about different cultures!

I was just thinking the other day too about how lucky I´ve been with my companions. I´ve gotten along with all of them.

 

The funniest story this week was probably Larry. The funniest part is that teaching is in English. There is something so odd about teaching in my own tongue. I really can´t do it. And when I feel impressed to say something, my impressions come in Spanish and I have to translate!! But he said he believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet because he´s seen visions of angels too and so he knows that Joseph Smith is "for real." I love africans.

AHha the first few days of the mission are killer, but now I could run a marathon. I decided I am in prime condition right now to be a tourist or go to disneyland cause i can walk all day and be fine as long as you keep me fed! haha

I love you all so much and hope you have an excellent week! LOVE YOU!!

Hermana FOlsom

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