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

Week 21

Hola!

Don't sweat it dad. I still had emails from mom and ash :) So this past week was crazy sauce. I kinda feel like every week is crazy sauce sometimes. Anyway, one good thing is that I am officially LEGAL in spain!! yay! Took long enough, eh? But that all got finished this week. Also, this week is zone conference and we get to go to Málaga! I'm super excited! I love málaga. Plus, because hna sturgess and I are really spoiled and live 2 minutes from the clegg's we get to drive down with them (instead of the train) and spend thursday night in the mission home. Just us and both sets of cleggs :) it's going to be fun (elder clegg is President Cleggs cousin)

So remember how last week I said we were having a district pday and playing basketball? Well that was a BLAST! and a half. We played for like 5 hours and spent the whole day having fun. The only problem was that I may or may not have totally forgotten to put on sunscreen before I left....and I got SO burnt. Really bad. And got a little sick from it. ha. I think I do that once every summer. Anyway, my burns are gone now and all is well. It was totally worth the basketball fun.

This past weekend was a festivo called Pandorga. But something cool about spain is that every city has their own traditions and festival days. Spaniards really like to party. Pandorga is a fiesta that is just is ciudad real and it is so insane!! The whole weekend was just one big party...and reason to get wasted. haha It is a big festival to celebrate wine....or something. The really famous part of it was on saturday. They all go to the fairgrounds and have a big party where they spray wine all over everyone. They where white shirts to it so they can see the difference...so on saturday hna sturgess watched the whole city walking around and leaving in white shirts and then a little later they all came back with pink ones! haha it was pretty cool. But the whole city seemed to smell like alcohol! It was so crazy. We saw a little bit of the fiesta last night too. It was really neat because there were lots of people dressed in the traditional dress of La Mancha. Last night was a lot more family friendly :) it was so much fun. I've never seen anything like it before. Literally, the whole city was out in the streets eating, dancing, talking, celebrating (not sure what) and nothing was open. I love spain

I gave a talk in sacrament yesterday. And we had one of our investigators that we have been trying to get to church for forrrrever there! Rosa. So we were excited. It was great.

I don't feel like I have described fully how awesome the cleggs are...as you know, they are the matrimonio missionary couple that lives here. They are part of our branch but they travel all around our zone helping with the missionary work in any and every way they can. They are SO cool!! They have an awesome family, after all, we are related to them! And they have experiences with everything in the world...so they relate to everyone and always have a story to tell :) I love them. Elder Clegg was an FBI and CIA agent (sick)...they lived in Argentina for a long time and were mission presidents in Portugal (mark neuffers!) So they know spanish and portuguese. Hermana Clegg was in the Genereal Primary Presidency and is so awesome and perfect. They help us so much! I'm really spoiled having them in my first area....I have a feeling I'm going to miss being able to have a general authority in my teaching appointments every week....they are the absolute best!!

So that's my life.
Oh also, no it doesn't rain a lot here. It's super dry because we are way inland. But my coat was super great in the MTC. And it will be perfect in the winter too.

I love you!!! The church is true. It makes my whole life happy.

con amor,

hermana ross