Wednesday, March 26, 2014

March 24th

Eating the paella we made

What a crazy, fun, miracle filled week! I don´t even know where to start. How about... L!
L is so cute. We met with her yesterday afternoon and she goes, I have something to tell you, but I don´t know how to say it. In my mind I was like, ON NO SHE IS GOING TO DROP US!! And then she goes on to tell us about how she was talking to her motherinlaw about us and she was explaining that a lot of people in China are buddhist and how her mother in law is really buddist and then she says the cutest thing ever, she goes (this is a direct quote) "In China, many buddist, Religion hard there. But I want to knowledge about Jesus Christ." AHHH SHE IS SO GREAT! She makes me so happy. We explained that the big difference between us and buddism is that we believe in Christ and we explained simply who He is and what He did and she loved it. 
Also, when I was on intercambios with an Hermana from Huelva, we were visiting somebody that I hadn´t really met with in all my time here in Dos Hermanas, but his name has been on our board, S. He is Russian and has been in Spain for 6 years and his girlfriend, O, has been here for 2 years. We taught them about the Book of Mormon and he goes, "I would like to know if this is true. How?" Okay PERFECT question! So we explained the promise in the BoM and invited him and his girlfriend to baptism and she said yes! He said he wants an answer before he commits to a date, but she said yes! what is it with all these people who don´t really speak Spanish nor English being so golden! I hope they understand us.
 
 
RANDOM THINGS
I tried clam, oyster and squid this week! We made then ate paella with Lo, one of our favorite members here. I had to behead, shell and prep the shrimp then they had me try mejillones (it's oyster I think?) with just lemon and salt and then we put all of that in the paella with squid and everything. It was really good but REALLY seafoody. I don´t think I´m the biggest fan of mejillones. I have decided I prefer fish to mariscos. But I am willing to try anything now!
 
Hahah we still teach a LOT of English, people here are crazy about it. Its our number 1 way of finding investigators!
 
It's interesting that you say to be diligent and obedient because in my last interview with President, he gave me the promise that if I am diligent and obedient in this last half of my mission that I WILL see success. I want to feel like I´ve done everything I need to before my time here in Spain is done.
 
I was here in Dos with Hermana Daines and she told me her 3 goals for the mission and I LOVED them: 1) Be changed 2) No regrets and 3) Testify of Christ. They completely encompass what I want out of the last half of my mission. LOVE IT!

Most of the elders are my age or younger now. We are always with them and do a lot together, it's fun. We are like a little family. When you are the only missionaries in a pueblo, you get to know each other pretty well.  They told us we are like elders.
 
I LOVE my mission president. He is chill, but takes this seriously and he´s a really great guy.
 The areas that we cover are Sevilla, Huelva, Cordoba, Valdepeñas and Jaen for the Hermanas. We have to travel pretty far but its cool to see other parts of spain and meet other Hermanas.

My scripture for you this week is Matthew 25:21. I want you to imagine yourself at the judgement day and Christ is saying this to you. Wouldn´t that be incredible? That's what I want to feel like at the end of my mission, like I´ve been a good and faithful servant. Also while you are there, read the whole parable. It's interesting because the servant that went from 5 to 10 talents received the same reward as the servant who went from 2 to 4. To me, this is proof that the Lord doesn´t compare us to others, but to ourselves. HE cares about our personal progression!
Love you all so stinking much! have a great week!
Hermana Folsom

March 17th

Well if you aren´t wearing green, go ahead and give yourself a big hearty pinch from me! Hahaha I hope everyone had a great week and that you are all super stoked for today! Our week went by really fast actually which is really good! It was... really eventful. We decided to be fuerte with our investigators this week and really focus in on baptism and we had some really interesting experiences!

So first of all, L. Our sweet little Chinese lady. We decided to explain baptism to her on Wednesday and then invite her to it. Please keep in mind that she doesn´t speak very good English or Spanish so we have to explain in SIMPLE terms. So we pull our our gospel art books and are showing her pictures of baptism and we explain that its a promise we make between God, that we promise to do what He says and He promises to bless us and make us clean. We then asked her if she would like to be clean and she said yes. SO we extended the baptismal invitation and she looks kind of confused and says, "No!" Suddenly it hits me- she thought we were talking about bathing! She thought we asked her if she wanted to be clean physically and take a bath!! Oh. My. Gosh. We tried to backtrack and re-explain that its actually clean in the heart and she started to get it, but then she had to go to work really quick so I guess we´ll see this Wednesday how well we can re-explain this thing and invite her again. WORST BAPTISMAL INVITATION OF MY MISSION! Haha goodness gracious...
RANDOM THINGS
(Gleanings from her pesonal messages to the family)
 
 We are over 6 sets of hermanas, so it works out that we have to do about one (exchanges) a week. Its fun when you are in it, but thinking about having to do another one always makes me tired! 
 I still get lost occassionally, but i have my first exchange where I stay here and H.Kunz goes to their area tomorrow so we´ll see how I do! I´ll probably be glued to the map, but thats okay!
 
Question: Are elbow pads as in there as they are here? I feel super stylish wearing my sweaters with elbow pads that I bought here:)
 
General Conference I actually was just studying that this morning and what really stuck out to me was that we need to prepare ourselves to listen to the prophet so that the spirit can testify to us that what they are saying is true and then we can go and apply it afterwards. Can you believe its already almost conference again? I´m SO excited! Getting the conference liahona is the highlight for everyone here in the mission! I love it!
 
Some miracles? Well we are having the (un)fortunate problem of seeing a LOT of miracles when we go to other areas, but we are having a hard time in our own. We set a fecha, we found new investigators, we taught lots of people in other areas and then we try to apply the same things here and aren´t seeing too much success. But i have a good feeling about a few of our investigators right now, so stayed tuned!
hey funny story about Brad Wilcox. Did you know the hermana whose spot I took here in Dos Hermanas is named Hermana Wilcox? Do you wanna guess who her dad is? Moral of the story: Yes, I´ve read that talk.(on grace-Alex used it in a lesson on the 16th) She gave it to everyone she met here! it's super good!
My scripture for you is Enos 1:1.  Being here and meeting all these people from broken homes without the gospel makes me feel so grateful for the parents that we have!
love yall! have a great week!! hermana folsom

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

March 10th



 Cordoba
 
HELLLOOOO FAMILY! How is everyone doing way over there in the USA? This was a really tiring, really interesting week. Oddly enough though, I don´t really know much what to say about it! I´ll hit up some highlights.

So first of all, I was stuck in Cordoba at the train station for 6 HOURS ON SATURDAY! We did intercambios there and one of the Hermanas went to Dos Hermanas with Hermana Kunz. Since its so far, Hermana Kunz had to come to pick me up and return the other companion so we weren´t alone for so long. Our train was supposed to leave at 2pm but NO trains were coming or going from Cordoba for some reason so we didn´t leave until 7 that night. It was wretched. We spent so much time in train stations that day and we were both just frustrated. It was kinda funny but ridiculous at the same time.
 
Also L is incredible. She has been reading the Book of Mormon in Chinese and she was like "I have been reading but there are things I don´t understand. Can you explain it to me?" and we are all like CLARO!! She asks questions that perfectly come from Preach my Gospel. I love her so much. We are going to explain baptism to her this week and invite her to it! I am really excited for it. She is progressing, slowly and really taking in what we teach her. I love it!

Also... exactly 9 months from today I will be on a plane going home. Yeah surprise! My release date is December 10th. How odd. And HOW FREAKING FAST!

 
RANDOM THINGS
My comp is from Sun Valley, Idaho but she went to the U. It's the only problem we have in our companionship;) haha naw its good. I really like her.
The best part of my week was Saturday night. We rolled into Dos Hermanas at like 845. We went back to our piso and we had planned to do our weekly planning that evening (which normally takes 2-3 hours). We dropped our stuff off, changed into pjs, made dinner and did a 20 minute long weekly planning session. IT WAS RIDICULOUS but really efficient actually.

DIM SUM! is that the stuff that daddy makes that is super yummy? I´ve been trying for 9 months to remember what its called! I miss dad´s cooking. Hermana Kunz and I have been cooking together and experimenting and its fun, but I miss dad cooking for us:)

 My scriptures for you are Luke 14:16-24,27. I love this parable because it illustrates that we should never be too busy for the Lord and that we should choose TODAY to serve and follow Him, and not just do it but to do it with our whole heart!

I love you all so much and congrats.. we are halfway there! love you guys!

hermana folsom





March 3

 

 Me and my first two companions!
 
Mission Leadership Council
 
Heyo familia! How is everyone doing? Holy moly I miss you guys loads! This week has been a long, crazy, busy, but FUN week! So I can´t believe that its only been a week because I swear its been longer! I´m still working on getting to know the area and the people and earning the trust of these people, but I´m feeling better about it all now!

Cool miracle of the week, L! L is a chinese woman who moved here to Spain in November. Her husband and daughter are living in Madrid going to school and working and she is here in Dos Hermanas working. She doesn´t speak very much English nor Spanish but she is so sincere and I haven´t felt the spirit so strong in a cita(discussion) before. It's funny because she doesn´t understand us very well so we are literally just teaching her one principle at a time and in really simple terms, but she really wants to know. Like as we were explaining that God is our loving Heavenly Father, she was like, "Does he know when I´m sad?" and I looked at her and just said,. "Yes, yes He does. And he also knows when you are happy. And when you are sad, He is sad. When you are happy, He is also happy!" And she was so surprised but loved that. She says she´s never felt like she had somebody to share things with like this and she was excited to share things with her Father in Heaven through prayer. So amazing and really sincere and sweet! Its been building my testimony of the simple truths of the gospel and even things as simple as God is our loving Heavenly Father! I love her.

SUPER COOL! We had missionary leadership council on Monday and Tuesday, so we went to Malaga on Monday and spent the day seeing missionaries there and going around my birthcity! (in the mission) MLC is different. There is a cool, really excited spirit there being gathered with all the leaders in the mission and the greatest part is this: Hermana Johnson and Nielsen are companions and also SHE´s in Alicante! SOOO I got to see BOTH my moms! I had this moment where I felt somebody hug me from behind and I was like, "Hermana Nielsen is near." Seeing them really buoyed me up and was so much fun!

RANDOM THINGS
I CAN GET TO THE CHURCH NOW! Hahah woo! Its interesting because president talked all about obedience today in the missionary leadership council and it's really fired everybody up to rededicate themselves to exact obedience. I love the focus that there is on the work of salvation right now.
Our ward has a thing where at 10pm every night, ideally all of the members are kneeling down and praying for the work to progress here and pray over a list of investigators that the ward mission leader sends them! Super cool idea.

The area is pretty cool, but we are having a bit of trouble with investigators that are progressing but we want to work on that. They haven´t had a baptism here in MONTHS but we really want to work on new, progressing investigators! The ward though is AWESOME! They are so much fun and so loving! I really enjoy it!
My scripture for you is D&C 1:38. This is kinda cool, we have the opportunity to hear the voice of God through his modern prophets. We have a living prophet! WOAH!

 Love you all so much and am so grateful for all ya´ll! LOVE YOU!
Hermana (very tired) Folsom

 

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Greetings from Dos Hermanas

Being Jedis in The Plaza de Espana

NEW ADDRESS
 
calle botica Nº55 Esc 7 bajo b
Dos Hermanas, 41701
(Sevilla)
SPAIN
 
I´m actually in Sevilla right now. I AM IN SEVILLA RIGHT NOW! We are going to go see THE Plaza de España right now. DUDE I´M STOKED. I really like my area if you couldn´t tell and I love my companion. Its funny because this is the first time that I´m not the loud crazy companion! We laugh and joke a lot. It's been pretty good!
So I got to Dos Hermanas on Wednesday and we got straight to work! We met a lot of the investigators and I´m slowly getting to know the members and everything. The only thing is that this area is SO confusing street-wise. Its the cutest little pueblo and so beautiful. But I have NO idea where I am half the time! The other day I was walking around with Hermana Kunz and I turned to her and said, "If you left me right now, I would be so totally lost!" She laughed a little and said, "Hermana, we are right in front of our peso (apartment)..." I don´t even know how to get to the capilla (chapel) yet. haha someday I´ll figure it out. Hopefully before I have to do my first exchange here in Dos.

Speaking of exchanges (intercambios in Spanish. Just so you know cause I´ll probably be calling it that for the next FOREVER) I had to do my first one as a SHE on Friday. It was really fun though! I was super stressed out going into it cause I had just barely gotten here, I am a brand new SHE and I had to go to another area to help them out. But it was really fun! I went to Sevilla and I was with Hermana Coloma, who was also trained by Hermana Johnson so we just talked and laughed and worked. Super fun!

I really like our ward here though. They are all so loving and caring and really try to get to know the missionaries. I have never had so many people ACTUALLY learn my name so quickly before. Super cool. And they put me to work right away playing the piano, speaking and saying a prayer. Haha I really am growing to love Dos Hermanas and would perfectly content being here for awhile!

 The way it works is that both of us are SHEs and we are over 6 sets of hermanas here. So we wind up doing about 1 intercambio a week, one of us will stay here and the other will go to their area and they do the same. Right now, we are working hard to get new investigators and set baptismal dates. There hasn´t been a baptism here in awhile, but I plan to change that:) We teach a lot of people English and then a message at the end. We are working to make the transition from English to the gospel more

 I know its confusing cause this assignment is REALLY new. They made it just a little less than a year ago and so everyone is still figuring it out I think and its different in each mission. So there are 4 areas that have SHE´s in them and so as long as I´m in Dos Hermanas, this is my assignment, but when I get transferred I could go anywhere and be doing anything. Basically I am over the emotional wellbeing of the hermanas in my area. So if they need advice or someone to talk to I´m the one they call.

 My scripture for you this week is actually from the same chapter! Its my favorite scripture and I've been sharing it a lot this week actually, as I left my old area and came into my new one, everyone likes to hear your favorite scripture. Alma 26:36 but this is EXACTLY the reason why I came on the mission! I want everyone to have this kind of testimony of Christ! SO COOL!

okay I love you all and miss you all loads! I also have a request from whichever family member would be willing to do this. So I was talking to this lady on Sunday at church and I felt like I should mention to her the promise in my setting apart that I would meet relatives here in Spain and she told me that if I brought her my genealogy or my chart that she could help me find them!
have a great week family! love you!