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

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

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!

Feb 17-Good-bye El Puerto

 

Yea Seahawks!!!

Cadiz

 

Wow scary news. I got a call from President on Friday and he goes "Well, Hermana Folsom, you are going to be leaving Puerto. And you are going to Dos Hermanas to be a Sister Training Leader. Welcome to the Missionary Leadership Council." I AM FREAKING OUT!! I feel like I´m still a kid in the mission fumbling around figuring my way out and now I have to go be a leader over 1/4 of the hermanas in our mission. So hold off sending any letters or anything until next week when I know my new address. I´m actually really nervous about this whole SHE thing (that's the abbreviation we use here for sister training leader). Please pray for me.

But that news aside, we had some cool stuff happen this week! We decided to go knock the doors of this one building by our piso and we go to the very top floor and the very first door we knock, this man answers and goes, "come in!"Yay for trios cause we could! We started teaching him basic stuff and he was like, YES I LOVE THIS! And then we invited him to be baptized and HE SAID YES. Then, since there is ALWAYS a catch, he goes, "I can´t commit to coming to church every week cause I only have 6 days off a month from being in the prison." We were teaching a prisoner! But he really seemed repentant and wanting the gospel in his life. Now the hermanas here will have to work  with him to prepare him for baptism when he gets out of prison.

And also thank you for the superbowl shirt! haha pictures to follow shortly...

RANDOM THINGS

Sundays the whole country basically shuts down actually. No temptation about breaking the sabbath day cause there is no way you actually could!

So we were at the church at this relief society activity with some investigators when the elders come into the room and ask for the hermanas. We come out and they go "there is a chinese man here asking for you at english class" hahah what?? its' this chinese man that works at the chino by our piso that we always go to. The elders had us private tutor him during englsih class since he´s more advanced than the others! We sat chatting in English with this guy for an hour. We somehow got talking about music and I told him I play the piano and the trumpet and he looked at me with a little bit of awe and goes "you have many talents."

Love you all! Have stellar weeks! Sending on my address next week! Dos Hermanas here I come!

Hermana Folsom

 

Sister Missionaries-Things I wish I had taken on my mission

So this has been the compilation of the work of several hermanas.

Things I Wish I Had Brought to the Mission:

-LOTS of music: make playlists on your ipod so you can more easily enjoy it. Seriously, put some time and effort into your music cause this is what you´ll be listening to for 18 months!

(some suggestions for playlists: fast for workout (like the good efy music), instrumental, your favorite, and also a christmas playlist with your favorite celebrity christmas appropriate songs)

-LOADS of thank you cards and other little cards for notes and messages

-lots of pictures from home printed out. It's weird, but you actually forget what people look like. and bring pictures of your friends with their names written on the back.

-stock up on pens, highlighters and invest in some good scripture marking tools

-LOTS of cute stickers: little kids love them and they are cute to put on letters

-a good, lightweight water bottle

-a comfy blanket that you love from home

-leather purses are nice because they look nicer and last longer

-a pen drive with a lot of space to put things on it (you may even want to put on mormon messages and movies in english and your mission language)

-- for spanish speakers, this blog is really cool: biblioteca.sud.blogspot.com

-a hymnal in your mission language with the cheat sheet of the english hymns to the numbers in your mission language

-buy nice inserts and then bring them with you to try on shoes to make sure that they fit with the inserts still

-a good, cute journal for people to write in when you leave areas and put pictures in. Every mission I´m pretty sure does this. WHY DID NOBODY TELL ME?

-if you are leaving your own country, stock up on your favorite face care products. You already feel ugly enough as a missionary, so why add acne to it as well?

-at LEAST 10 pairs of garments. you´ll thank me for this on weeks when the wash doesn´t quite get done on time.

also a tip: Go through the temple early and then go back every week until you leave. You feel way more prepared and adjusting to everything is easier.

Missions are great, but hard, so come prepared!

February 10

Sorry, this week will probably be not as long as usual, we only have an hour today cause we are in CADIZ for pday and have to catch a train back to Puerto. But all is well, we have had such a great pday! Okay preface, this week has been one of the best weeks of my mission. It. Was. Incredible. WE are really seeing the fruits of 8 months of hard work by hermanas in this area since it was opened. Its so great! We have seen so many miracles!

Miracle 1: Cesar. Cesar is the novio of one of our investigators, Viviana, who is in Bolivia for a month. Cesar is from Columbia and is in the Spanish equivalent of the Marines (lose 2 marines, gain another!) and is really looking to change his life. I have never had an investigator understand repentance SO well before, nor had an investigator that really desired it this much before either. He is completely changing his life and when we invited him to baptism, we read the part in 3 nephi 11 that talks about baptism with him and he looks at us and says "I really need this. Like, right now." He has a baptismal date for March 22nd. But he is so ready for this gospel. Teaching him is such an amazing experience! I am really enjoying watching him change and grow as he applies the gospel in his life. Stay tuned for him!

Miracle 2: Juana and her girls. So in San Fernando, the hermanas there have been teaching this woman, Tamara, and one time when they went over, her mother and sisters were over too and were really interested. Turns out they live in Puerto! So Juana is the mother and she has three daughters and they are all SUPÈR interested in the gospel. One day we just passed by to meet them without any notice and they were so excited to let us in. Lorena´s boyfriend answered the door and was like "Juana! Its the girls you were telling us about!" and ever since then they ahve been so excited to have us over and have been really sincerely listening to us. Lorena really wants to be baptized and we are workign on setting a date this week! Meeting them is such a miracle and so fun teaching them as well!

 

RANDOM THINGS

The wind yesterday snapped my umbrella right after church and then it was a downpour all evening so I was DRENCHED and looked like a wet dog. I´m goign to buy a new one today but it was just the worst time for it to break on the sabbath!

 

Unitl this morning on the train when one of the hermanas told me that the olympics are happening right now, I didn´t realize it was the olympics. Aka they are NOT big here. 

 

There are 2 things I value the most in missionaries and two things that are necessary for me to get along with another missionaries: obedience and diligence. I don´t care about anything else as long as there are those two things.

I have two scriptures for you this week. I´d picked one out earlier in the week and then came across the other and i really liked it and then i read both together and they go really well together! D&C 6:36 and Mark 5:36. I love that both have the theme to be not afraid, to fear not and to believe. Fear is the opposite of faith and faith works miracles! I love it.

I love you all so much! I was just thinking the other day how blessed I am to have a family that writes me so diligently. I don´t know many other missionaries who receive emails from every family member almost every week. Thank you all for loving and supporting me. Your emails mean the world to me! I love you!!

Hermana FOlsom