February 23, 2015

Hola Mi Familia :)

Happy Happy Birthday E and F!!!! I can´t believe you two are eight. I thought about you all day yesterday! Very lucky to be your aunt :) Thank you for the emails and pictures this week you guys sound like you are doing great! This week was a crazy one, I am excited to tell you all about it! 

First off, we had the mission tour this week.  Oh my gosh this meeting was incredible! I came home with about 4 pages of things I need to do to be a better missionary it was awesome.  I am convinced that I have the best mission president´s in the world! Plus Elder Dykes and his wife came and their messages were so awesome.  We are so blessed to have them here in Europe! I even got spoiled- he pulled me aside after and talked with me about a few of his experiences with my family and that was such a tender mercy for me.  He shared one about grandmother that made me just cry.  I love her! Oh it was great.  So fun to be in a group of 100 plus missionaries. 

Next up... Paulozky´s baptism! Oh it was incredible this guy really is the best. I always get so stressed out about baptisms to make sure everything goes okay, but everything went great.  My favorite part was him sharing his testimony at the end- I really don´t know if there is anything better.  He´s so cute! About an hour after the baptism he called us to say thank you for everything and I really feel so blessed that I got to teach him.  He was confirmed yesterday and is the newest member of the branch in Alcorcón :)

Rolando is doing just great! He was having a few doubts about President Monson and so we watch On The Lord´s Errand with him yesterday and after he gave the sweetest prayer about the prophet.  This boy is changing! He is still on for the 7th of March :) Same day as E and F! He even started going out with the Elders for some lessons this week and he absolutely loved it.  He told us he wants so serve a mission as long as it´s not in China ;) Charly passed the sacrament for the first time this week too! The greatest! 

We found the cutest new investigators this week.  Their names are isabel and laura :) We contacted their mom in the street and she told us that she wants us to visit her daughters because they need to have good examples in their lives.  We met with them twice this week and I already love them so much!! Isabel is 18 and Laura is 17. Cutest Bolivian girls! They are so smart I really am so impressed with them.  And the best news is, they came to church! All three hours! Which means I got to go to Young Womens :) Oh I am so excited for them! 

Between the mission tour, baptisms, and intercambios we didn´t have a ton of time to teach this week.  Yesterday we were looking at our numbers and were a little disappointed.  Numbers don´t matter, but we were ready for a challenge.  We made the goal to have 5 member lessons in one day, something that I have never done before. We did it! Plus we met with a few less actives as well :) What was more important though was that they were awesome lessons!! Oh yesterday was a really great day.  So busy, but those are the days I love! 

I think that is about it for this week.  I can´t believe we are already in the last week of the transfer! The time is flying.  Thank you so much for all of the love and support that you send me.  I love you guys so much and I don´t know what I would do without you! Have a great week :) 

xoxo, 

hermana marsh

p.s. I ate octopus this week- tentacles and all! It was yummy :) I guess I am over the calamari joke dad played on me haha! Love you guys :)

one more picture from Segovia!

 Paulozky´s baptism! :) 

 We made burgers this week at Beatriz´s and Edison´s.. Ohhh I have missed those! 

 My sweet Andrea!! She is the one that is leaving for her mission this week to California.  They had us over one more time before she leaves. She is going to be incredible! 

 More from p day! 

 We hiked up to this super cool statue and cathedral today for p day :)

 It´s a miracle that my jeans still fit haha! 

February 16, 2015

Hola Mi Familia :) 

Wow what a great couple of weeks! So sorry again that I wasn´t able to write last week, but I have lots of great stories and pictures to make up for it. Thank you for all of the darling pictures and videos. Disneyland looked SO fun!! I hope you were able to have a little fun even though steph and I weren´t there ;)

Wow these last few weeks have been pretty incredible.  To start off- Paulozky. He is getting baptized on Wednesday!! He has received all of the lessons, passed his interview, and is so prepared.  You guys this man seriously is incredible I wish you all could meet him.  On funny thing about him I want to share.  Last week he couldn´t stay for the third hour of church and we were being a little pushy about asking him why he couldn´t stay. He was acting super shy and we were so confused! Finally he said, I´m sorry I signed up to go give hot chocolate to the homeless, but I promise i´ll stay for all three hours next week!! WHAT! Who is this guy. His testimony is already so strong and I don´t know what I did to get to teach him.  He is so nice to us too! The other day he called us to wish us a happy valentine´s day hehe he is the sweetest.  So excited for him he is so ready!!! 

Next up! Rolando.  We had a miracle with him this week! We met with him last week and were asking him how he was feeling about his baptism.  He said, I would actually like to be baptized the 7th of March instead of the 14th. No problem for us :) Ah I was dying inside!!! This is coming from the boy that didn´t feel ANYTHING two months ago!! We met with him again later that week and he taught us lesson 1.  It was so powerful.  To see the change in him has been one of the greatest experiences of my whole mission.  This boy is incredible! I am so excited for him :)

Okay the next people I want to tell you about is Carmen and Moji.  I don´t know if you remember, but Carmen is the Less Active that had an accident and forgot everything.  She is married to a man from Morrocco and they have very strong beliefs in their own religion.  We have only been over there twice, but they are the most incredible people.  They are so nice to us and are always open to us coming over and visiting them.  It will take some work, but I have faith in them.  They really are some of my favorite people to visit.  Moji told us, I don´t have any daughters, only sons.  Will you two be my daughters? You can even call me papi moji :) hahaha I love them! 

We have a good group of progressing investigators, but are always looking for news.  We had the chance to meet with a few future investigators this week and I am so excited to see their progress this next week they seem really great.  One is even 7 months pregnant just like my seester :) It was really fun for me to talk to her about her pregnancy.  

We got to go to the temple this week after 3 months and oh what a blessing that was! I feel so blessed to be in a mission where I can go to the temple it was exactly what I needed.  And good news! I understood LOTS more than I did 2 transfers ago :) Wahoo! It was super fun to see all of the missionaries at the temple too.  Pretty powerful sight to see! 

Hermana Finch is the sister training leader which means we have had intercambios every single week this transfer.  I really like intercambios because it gives me a chance to see other areas and get to know other missionaries, but I am always so happy to come back to Alcorcon.  I don´t know if it is because it is my first area, but I feel home here and I don´t want to leave! Hermana Finch and I work so well together and it is always a good feeling to come back to things I am used to.  I really do like intercambios though they are fun.

I think that is about it for this week! This next week is going to be absolutely nuts.  We have a mission tour, meetings, and a BAPTISM! I am excited :) I love you all so much thank you for all the love and support you send me.  I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father that I have you guys as my family. What more could a girl ask for! Espero que tengan una buena semana y disfrute todo.  Un beso grande! 

xoxo,

hermana marsh 

Here is Carmen :) The first time we went to their house he made us cous cous, meat, and vegetables. It was AMAZING! The coolest part was though, see that bowl? We didn´t use plates. We just took our spoons and dug in :) So fun! 

 One of the menos activos bought us a box of miguelitos.  My new favorite treat in the WORLD! 

 SEGOVIA! (note from Laurie. Segovia is about 1 hour away from Madrid and in Madie's mission.  Here is a bit about the city:

Old Town of Segovia and its Aqueduct
The Roman aqueduct of Segovia, probably built c. A.D. 50, is remarkably well preserved. This impressive construction, with its two tiers of arches, forms part of the setting of the magnificent historic city of Segovia. Other important monuments include the Alcázar (palace) , begun around the 11th century, and the 16th-century Gothic cathedral.

 We were pretty happy to be there :)

 LOOK WHO CAME! :) My hermana toone!! 

 The group :)

 We go all the way to segovia and we choose burger king hahaha :) Our shop was closed for the weekend I was so sad! (Madie is talking about a place we ate last summer when we were in Segovia!)

 TEMPLE TRIP <3 Companion

 and district. 

 cutest candy gram from the mia maids in the meadows ward!! Thank you thank you thank you!!! 

 I spent valentine´s day on an intercambio with hermana valverde.  Only spanish for 24 hours- kind of fun :) thank you for the cute shirt! 

February 9, 2015

Hi my cute family! I am so sorry I don´t have time to even read my emails this week.  We were in Segovia and all of the locutorios were closed and didn´t have a chance to write until we got back to Alcorcon.  And now we are back to work! It was absolutely AMAZING though and I will send so many pictures next week.  This week was an incredible one and we received so many miracles and blessings.  I love you guys so much thank you for all the love you send my way! I promise I will write next week!  

February 2, 2015

Hola Mi Querido Familia!

Happy February! So fun to hear about everyones week you all sound great :) This week was a week full of miracles!!! I can´t wait to tell you about it.

First off- Felica and Carmen.  This is a long story- buckle up.  Hermana Finch served in Alcalá before she came her and was really close with one of the members in the ward named Suzie.  When she found out that she was serving in Alcorcon, Suzie told her that her mom lives there! She was super excited to get to know her and asked me if I knew her.  I had never heard of her or seen her at church before and Alcorcon is REAL small, so we had some investigating to do.  Por fin we found her address (which is on the other side of alcorcon) and went to go visit her.  When we got to her building, there were two women sitting in the front- they were who we were looking for! Felica is the mom and Carmen is the daughter. They both invited us over for lunch the second they saw our chapas- cutest thing.  

We had lunch with Felica this week and she is great.  She has been having health problems and that has made it really hard to come to church.  She was feeling really lonely and wondering if the people in the ward had forgotten about her.  She expressed these feelings in prayer and later that week, the missionaries showed up :) So cool! I am really excited to start working with her.  And for Carmen, she had an motorcycle accident about 10 years ago that made it hard for her to remember what she believed in and never made it back to church.  She wants to know more though and invited us over for lunch this week when her husband who isn´t a member can hear as well.  So great! We left from talking to them and were in shock. We never would´ve found them if Hermana Finch hadn´t served in Alcala, and then Alcorcon, but the Lord provided a way.  They are incredible :) 

Next up! Paulozky. Oh my word this man is great! We taught him the plan of salvation and asked him if he had any questions at the end.  He wanted to know more about the spirit world because his father had recently died and he was a faithful man, but died in sin and was wondering what happened to him.  We talked about baptisms for the dead and invited him to be baptized for himself the 21 of february, and later for his father in the temple. And his response... Puedo mas temprano? MAS TEMPRANO?! Yes!! He wants to get baptized during the week and to make sure we have enough time to teach everything, we settled for the 18 of february. We met with him a few other times and he was a church yesterday! Fasted and everything :) This guy is awesome.  I don´t know why we get to teach him, but I am so blessed to have this opportunity! 

This letter is getting real long, so I´ll tell you about Rolando and then wrap it up.  We met with him without Charly this week and wanted to see what his feelings were about baptism.  After a lesson and lots of questions, we asked him to pick a date that he would like to be baptized.  He took our phone on the calendar page and starting scrolling down and down... I´m dying inside thinking he is going to pick October haha! He got to May, then started scrolling back and picked the 14 of March :) That is NOT summer!! Wahoo!!! I was really so happy he is so great.  We´re excited to keep working with him and getting him ready for the 14th! 

This week was a great one.  We are working so hard and seeing so many miracles, but also having lots of fun :) We had our best attempt at having a sleepover and being obedient, churros and chocolate, lots of treats, and lots of laughs.  Being a missionary is everything! Lots of hard things, but so many fun things too.  An experience I am so grateful for! I love you all and am so thankful for all of the support you give me. Have a great week! 

xoxo,

hermana marsh 

Really don´t love this pic, but we went and got churros and chocolate with a less active and it was really fun and really yummy :) Needs to be documented! 

 I went on an intercambio this week and forgot my sweatshirt. This was all she had... 

 So there´s this thing.  It tastes like Pirate´s Booty only it´s better and it´s only 35 cents for a whole bag.  Only bad part- it´s name is pou and it has this on the front... What haha?! Great advertising I guess though because it worked for us! 

 P day hats!!!! It´s the little things haha :)