Week 42

Merry Christmas again!
I just didn't want yesterday to end. It was such a GREAT day. Which is fitting...because it was christmas! Between Fulgencio giving us peanut butter, Dima and Rossi crying in church, our missionary christmas party at Josefina's and calling home...I was in heaven. Also, Hna Capener got Reese's for Christmas. That was a good time too.

It was SO good to see you guys and talk to you! Although I don't really even remember what it was we talked about...I guess that isn't the point. It was just good to hear your voices. I wish I could have talked to Curtis and Whitney too...but I at least got to see Caden for a bit :) and I got to see his cool new watch. haha It seems kind of unreal to call home...but way good. It looked like everyone is doing well...or at least you look how I did when I left you...and you looked good then...so all is well. haha and I loved seeing those two little babies! They are so cute. I hope they are always best friend cousins. Kind of like me and Lisa...but maybe cuter since they are babies. Luckily, right now until May is a lot shorter than it was from May until now. Plus my time is flyyyyingggg...NO BUENO.

So I don't think I've told you guys about this yet...but last month President Clegg gave each one of us a book of mormon (and it even had our names on it! it was great) and asked us to read it while marking everytime Christ is mentioned. So, as a mission, we read the book of mormon together in one month. I finished mine last wednesday...just before the deadline! haha but it was the first time I had read it so fast...and so focused on the Savior. I loved it. The best part about finishing is that we can start back over! The Book of Mormon is true!

And, yes, I am a rather happy camper. I love being a missionary. I love it SO much!!

Well, short email...but I feel like I just talked to you. Happy New Year! We are going to be eating a lot of times this saturday too...sheesh.

I love you!!!

con amor,

Hermana Ross

Week 41

Hi Dad!

I'm so excited to talk to all of you next week!!! It will be so nice to see you.

I definitely don't have the address of where we will be. sorry. but I do know yours. And I am planning on calling at 6 our time in spain. Sounds like you have lots of crazy traveling and work right now! Luckily you will get to go home this week.

So this week was crazy, full of changes and things. Hermana Woodward left on tuesday morning....but Hna Capener didn't come in until tuesday night. Obviously, just one hermana misionera in Murcia just can't be. SO...I got to go to Cartegena! Really it is only 40 minutes away but it was super fun...I just spent the whole day with the hermanas there going to their citas and district meeting and such. Cartegena is a beach city and super pretty. It was weird not being in my own area though...I could totally feel that it wasn't under my stewardship. That may seem like a really missionary thing to say...but i'm a missionary. and it's true :) I'm supposed to be in Murcia right now. So coming back was just as fun as going! I got off the bus here just a few minutes before Hna capener tuesday night. I am so excited to have her here!!! I love hna capener! She is super fun...we have a lot in common and get along so well. She only has two transfers left....which is crazy but it is also nice to be with someone who has more experience than me.

Anyway, wednesday transfers were still going on so an hermana from Torrevieja had to come to Murcia to spend the day with us! So I had a great couple of days being in a trio again :) we just enjoyed it and kept working!

Yesterday, Dima and Rossi (our bulgarian investigators) came to church finally! But the schedule was all changed around so our meetings were in the afternoon, at 5 (because the other ward had ward conference...they needed the whole builing all morning? classic.) So everything was a mess. Not to mention they don't speak or understand spanish incredibly well. I was so worried the wholllllle time. And it was the primary presentation in sacrament meeting...haha oh jeez. They aren't like the ones in the states. I've never heard a more off key primary...hahaha it was so funny. But, through it all...they still loved it! It probably helped that they had no preconceived notions of what it should be like....you guys would have thought that sacrament meeting was a hoot :) also maybe it does help that they don't understand everything. and...they had studied with the testigos de jehovah for a year in bulgaria (jehovahs witnesses) so maybe they just loved that we like to party. Either way, Dima was writing down the schedule for christmas so they could come next week and they were just so happy to be there! It was like a miracle!! haha I love them. Also, Rossi has totally quit smoking and they are super excited for their baptism :) they have even been asking us about what they need to wear :)

This week we are going to try to pass by all of our members houses. It will be fun! I'm making enough snickerdoodles to feed all of africa. Snickerdoodles are a new concept for spain.

Well...MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love you!!!!!!
talk to ya sunday :)

con amor,

hermana ross

Week 40 - The halfway point!

Hey fambam

yeah...I'm insanely aware of my halfway point this week. not a fan.

it goes by too fast!

so big news this week. we have transfers tomorrow! but I get to stay put :) phew.

hna woodward is leaving though...she is going to jerez (close to cadiz for anyone who knows spain geography...which i'm guessing isn't many haha) I am sad to see her go. We had a way great time together. But the good news is that Hna Capener is coming! yay! I know her from the hermanas conference over the summer and she is super great and funny. and a byu-i girl...so obviously we are going to get along :)

I have to say too that I sooooo don't envy Hna woodward right now. This was her first area so it has been hard to say bye. that is just the worst. I'm so grateful to be in Murcia a little longer....i loooove it here! I love our ward and we have a fun christmas ahead of us.

last wednesday we went to lorca for a zone meeting. If you remember, Lorca is where that huge earthquake was earlier this year. I didn't really think about seeing the damage from it but....boy was I surprised. The capilla (church) is totally unusable. We went there for our meeting...but the branch there meets in a hotel because their church got trashed. It was so crazy. There was debris everywhere and huge cracks and holes in the wall. The primary room still had a poster of the 13 articles of faith up...but the ceiling was caved in. And there were a lot of buildings and stores that had major damage too. welcome to the last days!

also, fun fact about murcia :) Murcia is a big citrus growing place (pretty sure there is a word for that but I can't remember) anyway, there are lemons and oranges EVERYWHERE. we have lemons coming out of our ears because everyone gives them to us. (speaking of oranges, I have a cold. it's terrible. but could be worse) and even on the streets there are tons of trees lining the roads and in parks and things...just like any other city in the world...but these trees are orange trees! They are all over the place. I've never seen anything like it.

So last year, the missionaries of our mission set a goal to get at least 300 baptisms this year. I don't know about other missions, but for the history of the span málaga mission, that is HUGE. This mission has never even come close to it. Especially for how small the mission is and how young all the missionaries are. But, we did it! We all have been praying for this goal every day for a long time! and guess who was the 300th baptism? PEDRO! yay!! :) so now we will have well over 300 baptisms for the year...it is pretty exciting! We are seeing lots and lots of miracles.

Pedro is doing super great still. Yesterday he got confirmed, received the priesthood, and got a calling (ward missionry) all within like an hour of each other :) haha it was great. The picture is of us after church yesterday. he's really somethin.

Also, we had a ward baptism on saturday...an 8 year old boy in our ward. He was so cute. After his baptism he bore his testimony and while crying his eyes out, said that he knows the church is true because he prayed about it and has felt the holy ghost :) I cried too. It is amazing the faith that the little kids have...way more than many adults! They just get so underestimated. Anyway, it was wonderful. Heavenly Father answers prayers.

Sounds like everyone had fun taking family pictures...about as much fun as we usually have. bahaha

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAXEN!!!! i love you!!!

Have a good week! Good luck in st louis dad! And that time should be fine to call...I'll get an hour to talk.

I love you family!!!

con amor,

Hna ross

p.s. if anyone wants to send candy canes....that would be cool. but if not, don't sweat it. They just don't have them here and it would be fun to give them to people.

Week 39

Ohhh what a week!

so, as you saw on the blog...Pedro got baptized!

First investigator of my life to move their baptism date FORWARD!

actually, my first investigator ever to get baptized. Let's just say I'm a happy camper.

Ok, so what happened was his original date was for this next weekend...but he was flying through the lessons! Like, really flying. I've never met anyone like Pedro in my entire life. Anyway, on thursday night we went to pick him up and were walking to our Bishop's house to teach a lesson and he said, "Hermanas, I wan't to get baptized this saturday." I laughed. That really was my reaction. I just laughed and was like oh good I'm glad you are so excited to get baptized. But, turns out he was serious. He said that the Lord told him that he need to get baptized this weekend. Hey, I can't argue with that! Although I did pray about it. Because we have only known Pedro for 2 weeks! That's crazy!! But it felt good...so we just went for it! But we told him the soonest we would be able to get everything together was sunday. So our weekend was a roller coaster of preparing for the baptism. By thursday night we had taught all of the lessons...except all of the commandments. No biggie :) haha so on friday we taught him the 10 commandments, keeping the sabbath day holy, law of chastity, word of wisdom and tithing...all in one lesson. Listen, for anyone who has served a mission (or anyone who hasn't for that matter) you will know that is insane! You just don't do that! But we did. and he loved it. He ate it up and then testified of it after. amazing. A person doesn't get any more prepared than that.

Of course, lots of things went wrong...and I had a constant stress headache all weekend. But that is just because satan fights baptisms, especially with people like pedro...he fights so hard. Not to mention, our musical number was a disaster. haha but it's fine. (it was me, hna woodward who is sick and two elders...ha. so much talent.)

Last night was the baptism and tonssss of people came! It was like a party! The ward is getting so excited about missionary work because of Pedro. He is such a miracle for Murcia. Not to mention, he is young, single, spanish and rather good looking. So is is a one of a kind type of baptism :) Lots of young girls in the ward came too :) hahaha

Anyway, I just don't have the words to describe the day we had yesterday. It was a happy time. I'm so grateful to be here and to be a part of miracles like this. God is a God of miracles. His miracles have not ceased! But isn't it amazing...this miracle came through a MEMBER! It's so simple.

Basically, the church is true. The Book of Mormon is true. I love the Lord. I love being a missionary. Iz tha best.

I love you family!!! I almost get to talk to you really soon!!! yayyyy! Plus we already have a member's home that has offered us skype christmas day. I just need to know what time you guys will want to do it so I can tell them at some point. It is starting to get cold here...it isn't windy like vegas...but it is humid cold.

Well I love you again! Have a good week!

con amor,

Hermana Ross

p.s. here is hna woodward and I with pedro and then us after the baptism doing a thumbs up...it all worked out!

Week 38

Seriously...so many things happened this week. So many GREAT things. In fact, I had some of the most spiritual experiences that I have had in my entire life this past week. How will I ever be able to describe it through an email?

So, last week we didn't end up going to the mexican restaurant because the elders knew of an american one. It was the first hamburger I have had in a really long time. But it was fun :) after that we all went back to the church to play ping pong. Happy Thanksgiving! haha

On actual thanksgiving day we didn't end up eating with that one family...I think she kind of forgot and has been asking to come on tuesdays instead. Anyway, we didn't eat with anyone that actually knew that it was thanksgiving. But, we ate with 3 different people! haha It was like cita after cita...every house we would go to we were eating food. I thought we would die. Pretty classic thanksgiving in that sense I guess :) Plus the day before thanksgiving and the day of we had a TON of citas!!! It was such a blessing. I essentially decided that it was because of all of the extra prayers during the holidays. So, at the end of thursday I was thinking about thanksgiving and how all of you guys were eating and celebrating and things...and realized we didn't do anything super thanksgiving-y that day...but there was still a lot to be thankful for. It was a good day on the mish. And hna woodward took this thanksgiving picture for our beloved padres :) do you like the turkey hna woodward made? haha

Something awwwwesome that happened this weekend was that hna millán came! Remember her? Maybe, maybe not. Well Hna Millán was my trainer. She is spanish so she only lives like an hour or so from here...maybe a little more. (she is home from the mission) Anyway, there was a stake YW activity so she came down for it and called our phone on saturday saying she was in the church!! I about peed my pants with excitement! It was so fun to see her!! It was a good tender mercy for the week :) I wasn't sure I would ever see her again...but turns out she is going to byu in march so I guess it won't be the last time either :) But when I told her I am half way through already she said, what? you just got here yesterday! haha But it was a good opportunity to think back to my first transfer...and what I have learned.

ALSO we have really cool investigators :) remember how I told you about the bulgarian couple we are teaching? Well...they are sooooo great! Last night they basically taught US lesson 3! haha it was so much fun. We show up to their house and they have read everything we asked them to and marked all of the things they liked :) and they will say, this is so important. and start reading the book of mormon in bulgarian while we follow along in spanish :) they make me SO happy I can hardly stand it. It is so much easier to teach people who are humble. I told them that we are going to make a plan for them to prepare for baptism...and they were so happy! they are greatttttt

ALSO we have a miracle investigator right now. He is spanish! and 25 and doesn't drink or smoke or drink coffee, his favorite book of mormon character is moroni, and he already knows that the book of mormon and the church are true. and we just met him last monday!! He was so prepared. Every lesson we have with him blows my mind because of how quickly he learns...and how much the Lord has prepared him for this. For example, when we taught him about the restauracion (lesson 1) he explained prophets perfectly and understood the apostasy (not common in spaniards) and he was so excited about it. We asked him to kneel down in the moment after we had taught about Jose Smith to pray and know if it is true. So he did it. And he got an answer, right there, in front of us. It was incredible. Then later when I asked when we could see him again he said, "Well, tomorrow?" And that made me cry. I love teaching people who recgonize the truth so fast. His name is Pedro Cesar. I never know whether I should call him Pedro or Cesar so I tend to flip between the two. It's kind of weird. Anyway, Pedro is what everyone told me before the mish that just doesn't happen in spain. but it sooo does!!!

Welp. Just another random email.

What time do you guys get my emails? We go to a computer/internet place to write our emails.

I love you!!! I'm glad you had a good thanksgiving. I don't miss black friday that much.

have a good week!!!

con amor,

hna ross

Week 37

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

Definitely the time of year when I think of my family the most!

I hope you all have a good thanksgiving and black friday :)

One of the elders told me he wants to buy something crazy friday just for the sake of it being black friday...haha oh jeez.

Today we are celebrating Thanksgiving as a district...we were going to make a big dinner for each other and eat it at the church...but the elders had voluteered to do the turkey. They called last night asking us if we know how to make a turkey. hahaha I don't think they even sell turkeys like that here. So then they called us again this morning and said, "we have a new idea. How do you feel about burger king?" Obviously I said Heck NO. But that we should go to a mexican restaurant instead so we will feel like we are back at home. haha they liked that idea. But, mexican restaurants are extremely rare here. Mexicans are extremely rare here. It should be fun though! Here there are 4 elders and three of them are from america. The other one is from spain...so I don't think he gets the mexican restaurant joke...haha but that's ok. we still love him.

I'm glad everyone liked the story about my surprise boyfriend :) We visited Josefa again this week and it was equally full of good times. She told us that she always had lots of boyfriends when she was young. And when I asked if she had more than one at a time she said yes :) so I told her about mom. hahaha and the picture I attached is of us and Josefa. She is just a real gem. LOVE it

Also we had zone conference this week and it was the BOMB! Pretty sure I have the best mission president in the world. No, definitely sure. I always just learn so much. And it makes me excited to be a missionary! We are reading the Book of Mormon in a month. All together as a mission :)

So we have a message that we have been sharing with our members recently about Jesus...so I am going to share it with you guys. It kind of fits in with the story that dad told me about caden. (It's no wonder we are told to be like little children)

Isaiah 41:10, 13 says,

10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

13 For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.

and in the last conference in april, Elaine S. Dalton said this to the YW,

"Your course is marked, and you can be assured that the Savior has not only walked the course but will agian walk it with you - every step of the way."

Christ lives! He knows us all perfectly and loves us all perfectly. He understands and has felt every pain we have felt. He loves us so much that He is willing to carry us through it again. But, we have to let Him first. We come to know the Savior through the scriptures and exercising our faith in Him. He will bless us. I know it! I know it because I have felt it. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ and for the inexpicable love that he gives. I'm grateful for my family...for parents who taught me to trust in the Lord and for my older brother and sisters who have shown me how. I love you!!!

con amor,

Hermana Ross

Week 36

I can hardly handle how cute all of my sobrinos are these days. my goodness.

So first of all, let me tell you about this picture. We teach an english class every wednesday night. Here, all of the missionaries teach english. So normally, the elders in the other ward teach the advanced class and hna woodward and I teach the basic class. And we have been getting some regular english class comers that are super great and that I really want to teach the gospel too as well...anyway. Lately, the elders haven't been able to come to their class so hna woodward goes to teach their class while I do ours. (teaching alone is extremely weird) and this last week I started out the class with a piece of chalk the size of a pea. ha. but I had no choice to use it and keep going because I have to be able to write on the board to explain things and answer people's questions. But by the time I was done the piece of chalk was smaller than a grain of rice and I was still trying to write with it. I had no choice! One of our students said he is going to bring me chalk this week. haha but when hna woodward came in and saw what I had been doing she laughed at me. a lot. and so we took a picture. :) maybe you had to be there.

Also, ash told me about her language barrier adventures :) hahaha totally understand. I am happy to hear that you at least caught the word abogado though. But I have interesting language barrier experiences too...for example yesterday we started teaching a bulgarian matrimonio. But they are so great! They don't speak spanish very well, and neither do we for that matter...so there was like a triple language barrier...but they understand the spirit! I love them already. We are just going to have to throw out all of their jehovah's witness pamphlets :)

so Luis is still progressing quite nicely and going strong. We'll be having a baptism within the next few weeks and I am so excited!!!!

Another funny thing that happened recently was with our dear little menos activo friend who is actually pretty active...she just has a hard time with a certain commandment. Her name is Josefa and we visit her about once a week and love her to pieces. Sometimes when we eat with her and she says the prayer she will pray for us to get married one day. It really is thoughtful of her haha but this last time she prayed that we could go home and there would be a surprise boyfriend for us...hahaha I about peed my pants during her prayer. She's just lookin out for us :) maybe we'll both have surprise boyfriends just because of the faith of Josefa. what a woman. also, she told us that her favorite things to do are read and preach the gospel :) haha I just love these people. Sometime I'll send a picture of Josefa. She's a real gem.

So...this may be the most random email of my life...but ya know. It happens. I am loving Murcia, being a missionary and Hna Woodward. We have zone conference this week and I can't wait to here what president and the spirit have to say to us! The church is true. God lives. I know that when we read the Book of Mormon everyday...our lives change, we can recognize the hand of the Lord in our lives and we recieve answers to our prayers.

I love you family and I miss you!!!!

olé.

con amor,

hna ross

Week 35

Goodbye car.

That's ok. It was it's time. I'm glad to hear though that you are making the jeep even more chulo. haha speaking of chulo...I looooooved Adam's and Ashlynn's costumes!!! So awesome! She looks so cute in her pictures :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Natalie!!! I love you!!

Well our Noche de Hogar (fhe) that we had on halloween was a total success. We were so happy and everyone had a blast! I love this place.

So we had a super crazy experience this weekend. One of our investigators is Maricarmen...she is a friend of a member, spanish and catholic. Anyway, we have been trying to get her to church or do anything for that matter...and last week we agreed to go to mass with her saturday night and then she would come to church with us sunday morning (obviously this isn't something we do often...or ever really. I have been offered it before but it just seemed like a good idea with Maricarmen) The whole week leading up to it I kept feeling like we needed to bring a member with us. It just felt necessary. But, her member friend, Josefina was in Madrid. So we had to ask someone else....and it is a rather odd request to get from the sister missionaries, "hey so....would you be able to go to mass with us this saturday?" What? Anyway, we asked one of our most favorite members, Paula. Ok, so us, Paula and Maricarmen all meet up and start walking to the church which happens to be called Santa Maria Madre de la Iglesia...haha...awesome. And Maricarmen explains that her mass isn't the general mass, it is like a neighborhood other kind of mass? I had no clue what that meant. But we were there early so we sat in the back at the end of the regular mass and watched. I had been to a catholic funeral over the summer if you remember...and it felt the same. Empty. But I was watching all of the people there and thinking about how this is all they know...so for them, to come to church and just feel nothing (instead of stress, etc.) must be really nice. BUt, they have no idea that they can go to church every sunday and be FILLED! With joy and the spirit and love and all kinds of good things! Too bad it would have been totally inappropriate to go contacting :)

Alright, so it was time for the other mass...but it was in another room that was a LOT smaller and weirder. They had two rows of chairs all in a circle and this overwhelming mural thing of who knows what. It felt weird. There is no other word to describe it. Anyway, Maricarmen introduces us and it is obvious that we aren't super welcome (and the three of us were way past ready to leave) then one man asks us if our church is a roman catholic church. I thought that was a rather silly question. No. So then he said, oh but obviously you still believe in our head, the Pope. (obviously not) I couldn't lie of course...and I couldn't not answer. So...I looked at him and said, no. we don't believe in the Pope. But we do have a prophet. (I wish I would have said that Jesus Christ is the head of our church but...too late now) He got midly flustered. I wasn't trying to offend anyone. Anyway, some lady who was setting up flowers went off on some rant about the trinity and the virgen for a few seconds. They were some of the most uncomfortable minutes of my life sitting in there. Then that man came back and asked if we could come out and talk for a second. To make a really long story a lot shorter, they asked us to leave. They said that we needed preparation to enter into this type of mass....and said that there are some things that you just can't mix. He asked maricarmen to show us the way out. He was pretty rude. But, the three of us were relieved to not be in there anymore. We were soooo grateful to have Paula there. It was nice to have support. Not to mention she has a lot better spanish than we do :) Paula kept saying afterwards, Hermanas, God saved us! ha. and she is right :) Maricarmen didn't really know what to say...and felt bad. But it wasn't a big deal. In fact, Hna Woodward, Paula and I feel like it only strenthened our testimonies of the restored church of Jesus Christ. Especially after a fast and testimony meeting the next morning where I felt the spirit. I felt hope, peace and happiness :) It might seem kind of crazy, but I really feel like that moment was like a milestone for my testimony. I saw first hand the difference of a church led and established by men and the true church of God. I FELT the difference. I don't want this story to sound like me bagging on any other church...that isn't what I mean. I just KNOW that ours is the church of Jesus Christ! Literally!! It's so cool! We aren't trying to recreate His church. We have it!!! whoa! I love it.

Essentially, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church. I'm so happy to be a member of it. We have a living prophet and alllll of the truth! yay!!! :)

Well I love you family!!!

Oh, side note, in our english class this week I showed pictures of our family and one of the guys in our class, oscar, told me that mom looks like she could be my sister :) Everyone comments on how young and pretty mom is :)

Have a good week!

con amor,

hna ross

Week 34

I just learned a new word from your title dad. haha apparently aldea means village. You learn somethin new everyday.

Look at cute Hermana Woodward. I really like that picture of her. Also, transfers have come and gone and we didn't get a call. Yay for keeping the same companion!! I'm happy she is still here with me. Also, just so you know, the next transfers will come mid-december. Pretty sure I'll be here for that transfer too....hna woodward...maybe not. we'll see.

This week was a little bit of a roller coaster. Mainly the weekend though. Ok, so we have been working on changing the boundaries of the missionaries in Murcia because Pres wants to sent another set of elders here next transfer. Our mish is growing up so fast :) So...Hna woodward's area got cut in half. But that is fine, our area was huge before. But then on friday night we were told that they were going to split the wards and our area was going to be put into the elders ward. So essentially hna woodward and I would be changing wards and we would lose all of our investigators and have to start from nothing. again. This was pretty tough news...we were feeling like we are really starting to make progress, get to know everyone, have baptisms and see miracles...just so we could change again. So after crying most of friday night because I didn't want to leave the ward or our investigators....of course, yesterday it didn't happen. nice. So, I suppose it could happen at any time, but until then, we are just going to go on with our lives and plans and goals. Because I LOVE Murcia!!

For example, something cool that has happend to us recently: ok, so my second night in Murcia, we went to some cita that we were supposed to have...but they weren't there. So we just decided to go all the way to the top of the building and we would knock all the doors on our way down. The first door we knocked on a 18 year old girl named ariana opened up, told us that she is a little bit atheist (i still don't understand how you can be a little bit atheist...) but then let us in because she said she had just been watching the tv and some program about Jesus came on and made her start thinking about religion. Needless to say, I was sooo excited. So, we taught her a few times and it was going super great...but a couple weeks later she called to tell us that she wasnt't interested anymore. Suckerpunch. So we went on with our lives and work. But, just last week-ish, (about a month after we had seen her last) she called us back. SHE called US. awesome. and she wanted to learn more again. Obviously we were on board. Since then we have had a couple lessons with her...and we have been inviting the youth to meet her...and she is seeing what truly happy 18-21 year olds look like. It is so great!! She even went to an activity on friday with a bunch of girls in the two wards and had a blast :) nothing makes me happier than that.

We are going to mass on saturday. I'll let you know how it goes.

The weather is pretty great right now. It is starting to get kinda rainy but it isn't cold yet. But I realized this past week that I was like the only woman in the whole city that was still trying to wear my sandals. I just didn't want to let them go. Also, it was crazy...it was like everyone changed from sandals to boots and winter clothes all in one day. How do they do that? It was like we missed the announcement to change our wardrobe. Super weird. Super europe. I better get some boots or I'm going to start looking totally out of place. haha

Adam's costume sounds so chulo! haha that is so awesome!! We were going to dress up like elders tonight for our noche de hogar...but the costume part of our party got shut down. lame. but...happy halloween!! :) do you get to dress up at work dad? I bet everyone would rather have batman or nacho libre deliver pizza to them than a guy from pizza hut :)

ohhhh....the camry. that car has issues. also, thanks for sending the music!!!

Well family, I love you so much!! The church is true.

con amor,

hermana ross

p.s. Shout out to Rachel- will you send me sasquatch's address? I don't have his russia one and haven't heard from him. Also, I love you and I LOVEDDDDDD the news I got today :)

Week 33

bahaha ok...I think these were some of the greatest mom and dad emails ever. Dad I'm really proud of you for putting work away for a whole week! whoa! All I know is it sounds like it was awesome! and I want to go parasailing too :)

So...essentially the life of a missionary is the best. I'm so happy to be here. I feel like just about everytime I see president clegg he says "It's a great time to be a missionary in Spain" and it's so true! haha no, really though. And here's a fun fact for ya, neal a maxwell came to europe and said about the mission work: chile has had it's time, brazil is having it's time and spain will have it's time...starting with Spain.

yeah. that's cool. but also our area 70 guy told all of the mission presidents that we are opening that prophecy right now. It's a great time to be a missionary in spain.

Remember how I told you about how Luis just showed up to church on his own? Well, Hna woodward and I realized that other people could do that too. Sooo at first we were just hypothetically talking about how it would be super great if more poeple would just come...and then we started praying for it by the end of the week. And do you know what happened? 3 random new people just came to church. Heavenly Father answers prayers :) We had a super good sunday! It was great. I love this ward so much. Also, I gave a talk yesterday...the bishop told me that I was the first person he thought of to speak (that is...after the other person had dropped out and he could only give two days notice haha) but I'm pretty sure it was one of those situations where I needed it more than the people listening did. But giving a talk here in front of a whole ward is way more scary than in front of a branch with 5 members I decided. ha. But I spoke about our baptismal covenants and how we promise to be willing to take upon us the name of Christ. In preparing for the talk, I was able to study a lot about what that means. It is a pretty big charge. We promise to honor His name and be like Him. It is something we should think about daily. While at some point I will take of the name tag...the covenant still stands. And I promised that when I was only 8 years old! :)

Next monday hna woodward and I have planned a ward family home evening/halloween fiesta! Because we are american, we feel like we have to at least do something on halloween. It's kind of a new concept here in spain. Anyway, we are super excited. I wish we could have a trick or trunk...but...that's ok. We are just going to dress up and hope people come :)

So mom mentioned about how I would know what all of the poeple in mexico were saying...but sometimes I worry that when I go home the spanish is going to be super different. Spain has a lot of different words. Luckily, I spend a lot of time with south americans...but they kind of adapt to the spain way of speaking too. haha it will be interesting. Oh, and for the record for anyone who is curious, I don't speak with a theta. (I've had a few people ask me in letters)

This is our last week of this transfer. what? This one went by SO fast! Every transfer gets faster...it's crazy!!! I can hardly believe it. I am really hoping Hna Woodward doesn't leave...but it is a possiblity. But I finally am feeling comfortable with the responsibilities of being senior companion. It has taken almost a whole transfer to feel like I can do it! But with the help of the Lord, I can.

I know the church is true! The book of Mormon is oh so true.

I love you family!!! I miss you! Have a good week!

hermana ross

Also, Sarah Grate's birthday was this past week....I doubt she reads my weekly emails...but I'll say it anyway, Happy Birthday Sarah!!!

This picture is of us and blaze and luis!

the second one is mainly so mom can see what I made :)

Week 32

Yesterday we had a stake conference so we got to go to alicante. It was super fun because Alicante is like an hour away but most of our members don't have cars...so the ward rents a huge bus and we all drive there together! haha It was super great.

This week we also had a little specialized training (you can see our picture on the mission blog if you'd like) and it was great. I love every time I get to see president and hermana Clegg. They are seriously the best!!! I love president.

Also this week I am soooo excited because of Luis!! Remember last week how I said that we got free new investigator that just showed up at the capilla (church)? He is from Colombia and has a million questions. Well...now him and blaze (the member from africa that we found) are like best friends and we have had awesome lessons with them. I have loved seeing this week how the Lord brought those two men to our path within one day of each other...and they are both here to help each other. Luis is totally getting baptized. I'm so excited it's insane! There's a few things that makes a missionary's life really happy...or at least in my life this week: an investigator telling YOU that he wants to get baptized, inactives learning that blessings come after the sacrifice of paying tithing, and seeing love at home :) we had a quite a few lessons this week that after we left we were just like bursting of joy haha it was so great. I've never been so happy before just from something like knowing someone paid tithing. The Lord is blessing us a lot...in lots of little ways.

So...just something that I know is that Heavenly Father knows us PERFECTLY. He knows what we need in terms of blessings but also in terms of trials. He gives us trials to prepare us for bigger things. But everything depends on our obedience through these trials. If we are willing to be faithful and maybe make some sacrifices, he will answer our prayers. Or...we can choose to get upset. and stay that way. I know He loves me. He prepares all of us for bigger and better things. Listen to how cool my mission president is - :)

"Every time we yield our will to Christ's, I believe that something divine happens within us. We become more and more like Him. He is our leader and He will prevail in this world. When we learn to apply our whole hearts unto Him, something happens within us. Through His atonement He begins to change us. He not only helps us to see our potential, He helps us understand that it is all possible. He doesn't just forgive our sins, He shields us against them. He helps us understand and have faith in the glorious blessings He has in store for us.

I believe that when you read the scriptures and survey the lives of the noble and great ones of previous gospel dispensations, you are not reading the lives of the extraordinarily talented. You are reading the lives of the extraordinarily OBEDIENT. They all started with no greater advantage or genius or strength than most of us. Somehow we view these men as prophets from the time they were born, where in fact they arrived at that point through countless sacrifices and countless events in their lives where they "...yielded their hearts unto God" (Helaman 3:35)."

Also, this week we have had an even bigger emphasis on the Book of Mormon in all of our lessons because we learn more and more how amazing it is. The Book of Mormon literally can answer any question or any doubt that we have! It is so cool! READ IT!

And we found out that there is a big zoo in alicante where you can ride elephants. I want to go.

Week 31

well. i guess i'm 22 now. whatevs.

I got my package the day before my birthday :) It was super awesome! thank you family, grandmas and friends for all of the birthday love! My birthday was super great! In the morning the elders ran over on all of our morning run to deliver the letters for me that got sent to the mission home so I could get them on my birthday. such nice elders! nothing like letters to brighten a missionary's birthday :) and as you can see, I chose to eat chowmein on my birthday! yes. I don't know who's idea it was to send me that but it was genius. Also, Mariela, our investigator that got baptized last week made me a cheesecake and they sang to me in spanish and english! haha it was so fun. It was just a super good day. Now today there is a joint bday party for me and one of the other elders with the jas (young single adults) so that should be fun too. I don't know that I really used my birthday power that much...maybe I'll use it today at the party. Except it is elder corradi's actual birthday...no importa :)

One of the coolest things that happened this week was saturday we were out walking to the bus station when this black guy came up to us and asked us if we speak english. duh. and then he told us that he is a member of the church and has been praying for a way to find the church here! and then he saw us :) so cool. He just got here tuesday and is going to live here 8 months because he is teaching english. He's from the Ivory Coast and has a really great british accent. Anyway, that was super fun for us. He doesn't know spanish so we were a little worried for how he would do in church...not understanding anything...but he was a champ. It was testimony meeting of course so he came and asked me if I would go up and translate for him. So I went up there with Blaze (yeah. that's his name) and he bore his testimony in english while I translated it into spanish. It was kinda funny. Everyone loved it. The whole ward just loves him now even though he can hardly communicate with them. It is really amazing how much of a bond the gospel creates.

It did kind of make me realize how I actually do know spanish. when did that happen? It's the first time that I have really had to translate for some one. Also, did you know that Elder Scott does his own voice over for conference? I have been telling our members because it makes a difference to be able to hear their real voice.

Also, we were blessed with another miracle yesterday. We showed up to church with Blaze and there was a guy there named Luis who told us that he is an investigator and just moved from Almeria. and he lives in our ward boundaries. Hello free new investigator yo! It was crazy. Such a blessing. You know, sometimes we do all we can to find people and search for the people who are prepared and then after all we can do, the Lord just places an electo on the church doorstep. sweet.

So something random that I think will interest mom is that we get gigantic cockroaches here! It is so sick. they come into our piso. They are like mississippi/africa sized ones. Like last night we had one and there was quite a bit of screaming and running around with a can of cucaracha spray. no bueno. We didn't have bugs like that in ciudad real...I think it is because we are so much closer to the ocean here or something. I don't know.

ok...I have to comment on some of these things. winco in vegas? what? that's the best! hello gummy bears. also, mom, you would like to know that one of my favorite things about Hermana Woodward is that she is totally fine with christmas music in october. we were so meant to be friends. and nixon is SO cute!!! He looked so handsome for his blessing :) that's so great. and I LOVE the story about caden :) and I learned from natalie today that genny is going to byu-i!!!! awesome!! it's the besht.

Well family, I sure do love you alot. Good luck with all of the new babies and potty training stinker babies. Have fun on your cruise mom and dad!

con amor,

Hermana Ross

Week 30

Happy birthday little baby parker!!!

Oh I love my family. I miss you all. I thought about you too during conference. But I try not to think about it too much...it sounds like caden is growing up so fast! i miss him.

So Saturday we had a baptism! For real this time! :) Have you ever heard of Murphy's law in relation to the week before a baptism? ha. yeah. But it's ok. Mariela got baptized. That's all that matters. She is great! I'm so happy that I could be here for it. I wish I could claim her as mine...but she has been an investigator for over a year...and I showed up just at the right time! It was such a great baptism. Watching her go under the water made everything so worth it. (that is her 2 year old daughter nataly :) in the picture too) Oh also, the musical number was me and two elders singing I like to look for rainbows. None of us can sing. It's fine....it went fine. Everything's fine. haha

I'm so excited for birthday power! I'm not sure what I'll do with it...I'll probably do some contacting :) we'll see. Maybe I'll get crazy and teach some lessons. Do you think birthday power works during a lesson? Maybe I can birthday power people into reading the Book of Mormon. awesome.

Conference is the best. I didn't want it to end. I lovvvvvved it! Plus our bishop is so great so he set it up in english for us. It was like heaven being able to sit there and listen to apostles of God for hours...in english. Also, I got to watch priesthood session! bahaha It was my first one :) but to be honest, that one was one of the sessions that I felt was most directed at me! Because there was so much about mission work. I may not have the priesthood but I do have the same call the elders do. Anyway, conference was incredible. I didn't get to watch the sunday afternoon session because it starts at 10 at night here....how was it? (also something kind of funny about it being in english is that every once in a while one of the members who knows some english would come in and listen to it for a bit in english and then ask us questions in broken english. It was like an english class or something. haha but then it made me realize what I must sound like to them...haha oh jeez.)

One of the repeated things it seemed to me this time was the scriptures. It is so important that we are in our scriptures everyday. The will tell us EVERYTHING that we must do. What more could we ask for? Also, something I loved was actually in the relief society session from Presidend Uchtdorf. He said that we can't forget the "why" of the gospel....when we understand why we comitted to making this a part of our lives, it stops being a burden and starts being a joy, beautiful and sweet. We are trying so hard here to help people see the why and to help the members remember why. We need good members who remember the "why" and who are willing to love others enough to share it. After all, we learned that "perfect love casteth out all fear"

Also, there were so many messages of our relationship with Heavenly Father. Reminders that we are His children and that He loves us. That we matter to Him. I think that's so great :)

Well, I'm so glad you had a good conference weekend too...now we just have to act on what we have learned! I'm so grateful to be a missionary. I love it everyday!

I love you so much!!!

con amor,

hermana ross

Week 29

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CADEN!!!!!!!

(and dad and whitney!)

I love you!

I hope everyone took full advatage of their birthday power! haha that story made me laugh dad...that is awesome.

Ok first of all, I'm really stoked to see that natalie has really been getting into the cupcake spirit :) those are SO cute! also...I like how Ashlyn's flower is bigger than her head. haha so great. I can't wait to kiss those little babies.

So here I am in MURCIA!! getting transfered is crazy town. This has been one of the most stressful weeks of my life. hands down. It was SO hard to leave Ciudad Real!! I didn't want to leave at all. Last monday we had a noche de hogar (FHE in spanish) with the branch combined as a going away party for me and hna gibson so that is what the picture is of. So I kind of think that for a 21 year old girl I've moved around a bit even just with in college and things....but those were some of the hardest goodbyes of my entire life. It was so sad. I just don't know that I will ever see them again. It's sad. But I love that place. I felt so much love from the members there....and we had such a fun district. Somos La Mancha!!! :)

But, now I am in a WARD! my mind is spinning from trying to remember everyone here. I'm used to going to church and being able to say hi to every single person there with in 5 minutes :) But I'm really excited to be here! Murcia is a pretty big city (at least compared to Ciudad Real...but not like Madrid or anything. maybe you can look at a map) there are two sets of elders here as well...which is kinda fun too. I'll probably be here for a while. Speaking of which, here is my new address...use it!

C/ Acisclo Diaz 7, 2a

30005 Murcia

España

My companion is Hermana Woodward. She is from Spanish fork ish utah and has one less transfer in the mission than I do. So...I am the senior companion. She is really great! I love her and we get along well. We are a super young companionship...so we are still learning...but it is also good because it means that we aren't set in our ways. We are ready to do things new and fresh! Also, we are having a baptism this saturday! Isn't that exciting? I certainly can't claim it as mine...but I will get to reap the benefits of a lot of other hermana's work :)

I am SO pumped for conference!! I can't wait to here the words of the Lord's apostles and prophet. Because of the time change, I don't get to watch the sunday afternoon session...but I will be watching the sunday morning session at the same time as you guys! :) I hope everyone goes to conference prepared with questions and hearts ready to hear!

3 Ne 28:34 our mission president told us that we should view the conference not as the church's conference, but as the Lord's conference. I like that.

can I just tell you something funny that me and hna sturgess were doing for the last week when I was there? Actually probably two weeks. It was just that funny :) we were making meat before milk jokes alllll the time. They kill me. It makes me laugh so hard! Maybe only missionaries will think this is funny but it is my favorite thing. We would joke about if in our street contacts we started out by talking about Kolob...or temple reccommends...or one of my personal favorites, the pearl of great price. haha "so we learn in the book of moses that adam actually was the first prophet. *start singing the prophet primary song* oh right, you don't know about the book of moses. ok, so we have three extra books. One of them is like from a mummy tomb...but wait, let's start with the book of mormon. Ok, so there was this place called Hill Cumorah and an angel told joseph smith to go find some gold plates..." maybe if you remind me when I get home I can tell you some of them. it's pretty fabtastic.

also...that's so crazy about those kids!! what hoodlums. and no...I haven't called wells fargo yet. I just can't seem to find time for it. It is such a pain. But i'm going to try and call today.

Well family, I love you so much!!! I miss you. I hope you have a good week and conference weekend! I can't wait for me and parker's birthday :)

LOVES!!

con amor,

Hermana Ross

Week 28

Hola!!

So as you know....I completed 6 months this past week! Crazy! Is the time going by fast for you guys too? It's a little ridiculous. But we celebrated by eating ice cream with our best friend member, Denis. Also, there just happened to be some kind of catholic church party thing going on for some reason...so we got to listen to some flamenco while we ate :) it was a party. Those guys have mad guitar skills.

ok so BIG news! Just like I said, I'm totally getting transfered. In two days i go to Murcia. WHAT? I knew I was getting transferred....but I hadn't thought of Murcia. Except, Hna Millán did always tell me that I just have the face to serve in murcia. whatever that means :) but it's crazy because hna gibson is getting transferred too! even though she just got here. she is going to cádiz. hna sturgess is going to stay here and train again. We weren't expecting all of that so when president called us on friday we could hardly sleep because we were freaking out. haha

I've only ever known ciudad real! so it is going to be an adventure. My comp will be hna woodard, the only hna in the mission that I haven't met. Also, I'll be the senior comp....what? but she is only a transfer younger than me. I really hope her spanish is good....or else it's really going to be an adventure. ALSO, as you know, ciudad real is teeeeeny tiny. Like, we had 12 members in church on sunday but in murcia there is a WARD!! I'm so excited! And they said that it is a really big city. There is three sets of missionaries just in the one city. That's crazy to me! The closest missionaries to us in the la mancha zone are an hour away. It is going to be sooooo different. But so good.

I am super sad to leave here though. I love love love this city and I love the people here so much. Not to mention...leaving Hna Sturgess is going to be the worst. I've spent every second of every day with her for the past three months. We have the same brain wave. I'm going to miss that a lot! a lot a lot.

This week just flew by because of the specialized training and p day being switched and all that jazz....so I don't have much to say. Sorry. All I can even think about is how I am leaving and have so much to do before wednesday morning! But yeah, I'll send you my new address next week.

I love you all so much!!! ¡Que tengáis una buena semana y os quiero muchísimo....pero muchísimo muchísimo!

con amor,

hermana ross

Week 27

Hi family.

soooo....sorry i forgot to tell you last week that we had a specialized training yesterday so my p day got switched to today. So thus the late email. But I have to say that the past two weeks I have just had an outpouring of emails and letters. THANK YOU to everyone so much! It is so nice to have so much support. It really makes a difference...and I really do appreciate it. I'm so grateful for the great family and I friends that I have! I love you all!

Today was SO fun! I know mom and my sisters have asked me if I do anything other than play basketball on pdays...haha and so today I can say yes!! Today I got to go see the molinos! (windmills) If you know anything about Don Quixote de La Mancha....you know about the windmills that are here :) and I've wanted to go see them the whole time....but they are kind of far away and closed on mondays (our normal pday!) So today the Cleggs were nice enough to drive us out to see them! They are the most famous windmills in Spain. In Consuegra. The zone leaders live super close so they drove out and played with us too! It was such a blast!!! So we saw all of the windmills, got to see how they work, took lots of pictures and also went inside the castle that is there. Oh ya know, no big deal, I just spent the whole day in SPAIN in a CASTLE on my MISSION. whatevs. That kind of stuff just never stops being cool. I took so many pictures. It's the first really like sight-seeing super spain thing I've been able to do...loved it!

Ok....so I had, or WE had, (because everything I do is a we...haha) quite a powerful experience yesterday. First of all, during our specialized training President said a lot of really cool things of course (have I ever bragged about my mission president. he's the best. no i'm not biased. but really.) and answered a lot of prayers for me. One thing he said is that when we bear our testimonies and feel the spirit, that is the Lord telling us that our work is accepted and that He loves us.

So later in the afternoon we had a cita with a really nice spanish couple. We were pretty excited for it and we got in and sat down and got to know them, you know...the usual get to know new people kind of thing....and found out that the man was an evangelical pastor. The evangelistas are known to be bible bashers. And it didn't take long before they were trying to turn our words around and trap us. He was actually really rude. And he said flat out right off the bat that he has read the whole book of mormon and thinks it is fiction. It was the first time that I had really been put into a situation like this. I mean, obviously I've met people who are against the church, or argue or rude or whatever...but never in teaching appointment in someone's house like that. And never in such a direct way. It was obvious the only reason he had invited us over was because he wanted to tell us we were wrong. His mind was already made up. I wouldn't trade this experience for the world. I can't even explain the feeling that was there. The spirit guided us so much. We were given our words. We didn't get upset, try to fight or even pull out a scripture to prove them wrong. It was so amazing to be able to look those people in the eye and bear my testimony with all my heart and have the spirit confirm at that moment that what I was saying was true. That the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that I am a daughter of God. And then knowing that being able to feel that way meant that my work had been accepted by the Lord and that He loves me. There's just nothing better. We left with nice feelings between us and them....and we just felt so uplifted and supported. Turns out this man has a history with the missionaries of course...but sadly I think he is more used to the missionaries giving a better reaction. I love being a missionary. I know this is Jesus Christ's church. What a great thing :)

well fam bamily, I hope you have a great week! I love you so much!!!!

olé

con amor,

hermana ross

Week 26

Hi dad!

Where do you get your spanish? is that coming from an online translater? Because....it's...totally awesome. haha

Welcome home Jacob!!! :) I probably definitely absolutely will be like that girl in your ward. I already feel it coming. I bet your lesson was really great dad! You should come here and teach in our branch too. We could really use more gospel doctrine subs :)

Ok...so one of the weirdest things that has happened to me so far on the mish was on saturday. But first you should know, if you don't already, that spanish culture is to give people a kiss on each cheek...rather than like a hug or whatever. So I kiss a lot of people everyday. haha except we only give the besos to women obviously and the elders don't do them at all. Just handshakes.

We were out and about looking for some references and then in one of the buildings we were in we just decided to knock doors (not something we do often...it is way easier for someone to shut the door on you than it is for them to walk away because I can just walk with them! haha) and the first person that opened his door was this really old, small man. We started talking to him and apparently the Jehovah's Witenesses had been by just a few hours earlier and left him some of their little magazine things that they love so much. He told us he is a widow of over 9 years and when we told him a little bit about the plan of salvation, he told us that his two sons talked him out of the thought of ever seeing his wife again. How sad. Also, this man was a little crazy...like not fully functioning enough for us to teach him for realsies. So, Hna Sturgess asked him if we could some in and sing a song for him. That way we can leave this man with something of the Spirit in his life...and maybe we could one up the JW's as well :) baha. Anyway, we went in and sang Families can be together forever and were planning on singing one more but as soon as we finished the first one he got up SO FAST and came right to my face to give me kisses. My automatic reaction when a man tries to give me the besos is obviously to pull away and tell him that sorry, as missionaries we can only shake their hand. But he just was so happy and excited after our song that he went a little crazy and kept trying to kiss me or more like attack me! He went a little crazy. So I had to completely push him away and just grab his hand and shake it. I felt bad...because he kept saying, 'I just want to show how grateful I am'. But it was really scary! Both of my companions stood right up when it happened and we just left. I've never had a 90 year old man try to kiss me before. awkward. Maybe he had never felt the spirit like that before...

I'm not sure if that story makes sense.

Anyway, this past saturday the temple president of the Madrid temple (my favey temple ever) came to La Mancha just to speak to our little district. It was so cool! We didn't get to listen because we had to be with the kids....but it was a really great experience for all of the members. The Moore's are really amazing. They are just so full of energy and happiness. I love it. They kept telling us over and over, You sisters are doing so great! I just can't imagine a better trio! This is the best work in the world isn't it? and it really is :) That temple serves people from so many different languages. English, portuguese, french, spanish, italian, russian...cool huh?

Actually, something really cool about spain and especially Ciudad Real is how we get to teach people from everywhere. I have investigators from Bolivia, Peru, Spain, Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico (not many of those), Colombia, Argentina, Uruguay, Romania and more! :) So we have been experiencing culture from lots of places. I love it.

Welp. The church is true. You are the best fam ever. Thanks for supporting me. I love you all so so so sososo much!!! Have a good week!!

Con amor,

Hermana Ross

Week 25

buenos dias!

those quotes were hilarious. I love that so much. Especially the doodie one. That is soooo funny! So caden. oh man.
So this week I got to see flamenco dancing! It was sweeeet. Really random too because the three of us had just sat down on a bench for a second to look at our map...and then a wedding party came out of the cathedral we were by and they had this like little private flamenco show. And we got to watch too! It was so cool. So spanish :)

This week one of our members, Ana was in the hospital this week because she has something really terrible and scary happening to her legs...some kind of blood clot or something. But we went in to visit her...and the all priesthood (we have like three men in our branch haha) went yesterday to give her the sacrament. And it just really made me realize even more just how much I love these people!! We eat la comida with ana every sunday and she is like our mom here. So having here in the hospital was so sad. You know, missions are so baptism focused obviously because that is our purpose. But really, being here where baptisms don't exactly flow in...I feel like I understand even more our purpose of "Inviting others to come unto Christ..." because to be honest, I may not see a baptism while I'm here. But, I think I was here more for the members than for anything else.

Anyway, I didn't tell you where hna gibson is from? Sorry. Sometimes it is hard to keep track of all of the things I want to say. She is from Lexington, Kentucky and goes to BYU. Our little trio has been doing great! It does take a little bit as a trio...well really in almost any companionship...to get the teaching flow down but we've been doing well with that. We are having fun with everything...we even LOVE contacting. Really. At first, I thought I was going to pee my pants about contacting. But now it is one of my favorite things. We do it a lot. We have had some really interesting experiences this week...as a missionary you just meet the most interesting people in the world pretty sure. and hna sturgess' blonde hair really draws attention to us. hahaha

Also, we have a quite a few teaching opportunities in primary lately and it has been so fun. Yesterday we got to share in primary about missionary work and our own experiences and why we love being missionaries. It was so great. I love being a missionary. its the besssst.

I love you all so much!! I hope you have a good week!

con amor,

Hermana Ross

Week 24

ok...first of all. PAUL!!! haha oh man. I can't believe he's home!! That so great. Hi paul! :) craaaazy! Also, so cool that you saw president tew. He is truly batman. Really amazing. Oh it makes me happy to get saludos from both of them

Second of all, check out the family pic on the blog :) http://www.spainmalagamission.blogspot.com/

but it is true what hna clegg said, our district is all different now. one of the elders got emergency transfered even.

Third of all, once upon a time, I sent an elder a package and he wrote back and told me, "packages are manna."

SO TRUE

I got your package last tuesday and it was so exciting!! Thank you so much best parents in the whole wide world!! :) I totally called the 259 cd. haha I thought that was funny. I love it. Actually that cd makes me miss you, dad. Maybe because you used to sing those songs on sunday a lot. But it was like heaven times ten getting new music. Thank you times ten! And....I had forgotten how weird Idaho Spuds are....

It is extremely hot here right now. We've been dying a little bit. But not at the same time. I feel like if I had known how hot it would be and what I would be doing before I got here I would have felt like....there is no way. Or I remember seeing the elders in vegas during the summer riding bikes and thought they looked miserable...but the truth is, you just do it. And love it. Like, I am so hot. so tired. and stressed many times. But so happy. The Lord just carries you through.

So...

We had a little party for our branch this saturday (acutally it was a pool party but of course we didn't swim) and it was so fun! I love these members so much. I can hardly even explain it. And some of them I can barely understand baha but they are just my favorite people. I really admire them for how strong they have been for so many years in a place that struggles so much in the church. They are incredible. Also, it was really funny because we were telling super lame jokes with the elders. I love being a missionary because of how everything gets funny. I already thought everything was funny before but now...even more so. I was crying at jokes like "call me the bus driver....cause I'm driving the bus!" We were trying to make every lame joke we could think of, even lamer...and succeeded. It was hilarious. Maybe you had to be there. Story of my life.

Also this week, we had one of the most amazing lessons of my entire mission so far. We are teaching a romanian woman named edith whose mother is queen of the jehovah's witness so she has a lot of typical JW doubts...but anyway she came in to our lesson and we were planning on teaching el plan de salvacion PERO she had a lot of doubts about the book of mormon. so of course our original plan flew out the window and we just had to go by the spirit. (also, she had already read into 2 nefi! she's crazy! but i like it.) We were able to use a lot of scriptures from the old and new testament and the book of mormon to answer all of her questions. It was truly amazing. It's an incredible experience when you get to feel when d& c 100 becomes your life. She told us that she had never felt that way in her entire life. She was essentially drunk on the spirit too...for real. haha and when she was leaving the capilla she told us, "I'm going to miss you so much when you go back to your country!" I love her.

Today we are having another joint distict pday of basketball fun! But this time I'm wearing sunscreen.

welp. I think that's all. I love you so much family!!! Happy anniverary nat and adam! Welcome home paul! Have a good trip mom! If any of you go on cruises without me, you have to take me on one when I get back!! Miss you all!

loves,

hermana ross

Week 23

hola familia!

Today is a festivo day because of the Virgen del Prado. I wonder what she did that makes the entire county of spain shut down. Must have been real good. This week in Ciudad Real the WHOLE week is a festivo. Essentially everyone parties all week long...it's gunna be crazy! I'm excited.

So we are three!! And loving it! Last tuesday after a wonderful district meeting where we all wore blue and took family pictures of the La Mancha family :) hna sturgess and i and two of our elders all got to go to Málaga again. (the picture will probably be coming next week) it was such a blast. I love going to Málaga. We got to spend a little bit of time in Fuengirola (super touristy beach spot) and then the whole night at the mission home learning how to be good trainers and spending time with pres and hermana clegg :) loved it. Then wednesday we got Hermana Gibson!! (side note that I thought was really funny....two of the other hermanas who are training hit their nine month mark to the day on wednesday...and that is the day they got their "daughters" haha) She is from Lexington, Kentucky and went to BYU studying Public health. She is 5'9''. yes. and....her mom is venezuelan so that's cool. She speaks way better spanish than I did when I got into the field so she's in good shape. hna sturgess and gibson both took spanish in college. She is so great!! Such a good missionary and addition to our companionship!

You know...I was in a trio the whole time I was in the MTC (like 4 different trios) and then I just had one transfer with hna millan and one with hna sturgess and now I'm back in the trio life! Obviously it is way different in the field...but I still like it. Trios are super fun. At least mine have been. We've been doing super well together already. It really has made me realize though just how much I have learned in these past couple months in the field. You just are forced to learn so much so fast! I've found myself saying the EXACT things that everyone said to me, "it just comes" too bad there isn't better advice. But missionary work has never been easy.

Yesterday at church was the best sunday I have had my whole mission so far!! (hna gibson got a wonderful first sunday and hardly knows it) it was so so so incredible. In fact, after church Hna Clegg told us, "that's the best church meeting I've had in my whole life....and I'm 70!" haha loved it. We had a lot of really really great investigators in church and almost the entire branch there...so it felt like a full house (probably about 30 people including the kids!) and the Cleggs spoke so the spirit was soooo strong! all of our investigators were sitting by members and just soaking it all in. The three of us hermanas sang Abide with me tis eventide and Ana, one of the rocks of the branch and like our mom here, told us that was the strongest she had felt the spirit in a long time while we were singing. Then we had an amazing class with our people about Jesus and baptism (of course) and in Relief Society....I just....words don't do it justice. Anyway. It was a good day. I love being a missionary. I love love our branch. They are so great. I'm going to miss them when I have to leave. I feel like this will probably be my last transfer here

Also yesterday, I ate Migas. It is a meal that is like a traditional La Mancha summertime kind of food. It was super good!! it is essentially stuffing with fruit on top. Sounds really weird. But it is really spanish. I think I've become even less picky since I got here....actually, I know I have.

Yesterday, one of our menos activos told us that she hates christmas. isn't that sad? it was so weird to me. and then hermana sturgess asked her, "nieves, have you ever seen the movie...the grinch?" bhaha we've recently decided that we say a lot of things in spanish that we would never ever say in english. haha

This week I got a wedding invite from Kristi maxwell. What? That is insane to me. I guess life really does go on while I'm on my mission. :) that was happy news though.

I'm excited to see who my FAVORITE group will be! haha I hope it is 259 :)

That Caden quote is hilarious! hahaha he's a smart little bugger. Also, I feel like you tend to get crazy jury duty trials dad...i still remember that one with the old lady. but pretty sure that was in georgia. that was a long time ago...

Well happy birthday again adam!

I love you family!!

con amor,

Hermana Ross

Week 22

hahaha estoy muy bien! Gracias papá.

first of all, you should TOTALLY check out the mission blog this week...we are in it lots. and lots of my most favorite people.

Now this is a story all about how my life got flipped turned upside down and I'd like to take a minute just sit right there and I'll tell you how I became a trainer after just two transfers. (fresh prince for anyone who doesn't know 90's television)

yes...that's right. Transfers are this week. Hermana Sturgess knew we would both be staying put here...but president through us a nice little curve ball anyway. We are training! together! And I still feel like I am being trained. haha It is going to be really interesting and crazy. But we're really excited! We decided that it is too easy for me and hermana sturgess...so the Lord felt like we needed something to mix things up :) So we don't know anything about her other than she will most likely be american. We have been spending all weekend and all day today trying to get everything ready and turning our two man piso into a three man piso

So this past week was zone conference and it was SOOO great!!! Oh it was just the best. We spent thursday night at the mission home, just us and the cleggs :) it was a blast and then all day friday was the conference. It was the zones of La Mancha, Granada and Málaga together. It was almost half of the mission together. You can see the picture of the blog. But something kinda crazy is that president clegg asked how many had been out over a year and only like 10 missionaries raised their hands and 6 of them are about to go home! Our mission is so young! It is just growing super fast. Anyway, I essentially learned everything and more at this zone conference. President Clegg is so cool. I love hearing him talk about the scriptures! That is sad about your mission president dad. I hope you get to go! It is kinda funny how you really get to know your mission president so well. I just love him. After the conference he came up and gave me and hermana sturgess high fives :) haha. Also...I have the best zone in the whole mission. During the whole conference we were representing our la mancha pride. (you should know that la mancha means "the stain" in spanish...ha) It is a tradition to sing for all of the people who have had birthdays and say something nice about all of them. We had both of the cleggs and then elder crawford from our district up there so when it came to each of them we would just yell, "HE'S FROM LA MANCHA!!!" Then we would say, "somos la mancha!!" and elder clegg's favorite joke is "no se mancha la mancha" you aren't going to get that. But that's ok. It was so fun. I'm sure you can imagine how much I would love something like that.

So, going into the zone conference none of the other missionaries had any clue what la mancha was or where it was. But now they know it is where they want to be :)

love my life.

Ok. one more thing from this week. Our little (but actually really huge) tender mercy from the week. Saturday, we were having a really loooong day. All of our appointments were falling through and we were just in the street a lot all day long. and it was hot. Don't get me wrong, we are still pretty happy campers together even on days like that...but we were tired. As we were walking home for the night, a woman that we recognized but couldn't remember her name came up to us and was like, "so your meetings are tomorrow at 10:30, right?" uhhh....yeah!!! That kind of thing just does not happen. So then she told us her name again and we remembered her! Her name is Yolanda and we contacted her in the street like a month ago. When we contacted her she was like well...I don't have time. and just wasn't very sure so she didn't give us contact information. I remember being really bummed about her because we talked for a while and then could only leave her with a pass along card. And she had seemed so nice. It kills me when that happens. Anyway, she kept that card. She told us that after talking to us and hearing us testify of Jesus Christ she was "walking in the clouds" and it made her think about her life and relationship with God that whole next month. Then her job changed so she doesn't work on the weekends anymore...and she saw us walking saturday and knew she had to come to church. It was so incredible!!! Such a testimony to us that the people who are prepared will be receptive. We just had to be in the right places at the right time. So anyway, she really did come to church yesterday and we taught her last night too! I already love her so much! She had already started reading the Book of Mormon yesterday and she told us that she wants to make promises with the Lord....and we hadn't even mentioned baptism yet!

oh yolanda. so great. It was such a blessing...I know the Lord is aware of ALL of us.

It was a good week. This week we get to go to Málaga again! to pick up our new hermana. SO exciting!!

what fun with new little tiny babies! I hope the whole fam is doing well. Also, Happy Birthday Adam!!! I know I'm either early or late....I just can't remember the exact day. ha. sorry. I love you brother! olé.

I love you all!! Miss you!!! The church is true.

con amor,

Hermana Ross