More Pictures

Ok, I think we might be caught up after this post!  The more pictures, the happier the mom!

Yummy frozen lemonade :)

 Part time watch model as well as missionary. 

 Closest I got to going swimming haha! 

 Boats are fun! :)

 Here we are on the boat!! So so windy.

 Wind... Sister missionary probs. 

 District pic! 

 All the cute Hermanas in our Zone!

 Love my companion!!! 

 Cutest comp! 

 Hermana Costagliola! :) 

 Boat pic :) adios tenerife! 

 One  more in front of the boat!

 I have been debating on whether or not I wanted to send this home... I decided to be a big girl and hold the cat even though I was scared. Then it started hissing and so naturally I freaked out a little. And like any good companion would do, Hermana Rossberg caught the attack in action. 

Like I said before, I really don´t like cats. 

May 25, 2015

Hola Mi Familia! 

Wow I can´t believe another transfer has come and gone. We are into Steph´s last transfer I can´t believe it! Really I never thought this day would come. Time flies. Thank you so much for the e-mails it is so fun to hear from you all! You sound great and look even better :) 

We received the great news that Hermana Rossberg and I will be staying together another transfer! And I am so happy about it :) The best news of the day though. Hermana Finch is coming to the Islands! And the best news of all... her companion is Hermana Santiago!! Two of some of my best friends are companions are companions and we are all in the same zone. SO FUN! 

This week was such a great one. First off, the Zone Conference was amazing. I know I sound like a broken record but really the Jacksons are incredible. They only have one month left here and it breaks my heart! They gave such inspriring messages though. Lots of great messages were shared, but what stuck out to me was Hermana Jackson spoke about the importance of being bold and President Jackson spoke about going for it. I really didn´t come here to lay up!! I need to go for it and make the most of these last 10 months. Such a great meeting and SO fun to be with all of the missionaries. 

Also I can´t let another minute go by without telling you how incredible Yamilka is. We had a great lesson this week and the most touching experience happened after church yesterday. The lesson was on families and I was a little worried how she would take it because we went into some pretty deep doctrince. She came up to me after though with tears in her eyes saying how much she wants a family like that. "Me encanta... Me encanta!" So grateful for her. Her baptism is the 6th of June and she couldn´t be more ready. I love this woman so much!!

We found a new investigator this week that I wanted to tell you guys about too. Her name is Beduth and it honestly was one of the best first lessons i´ve ever had. She had so many great questions! One of my favorites was, "I don´t know if you guys know, but I have always been so confused about why God only has a book about the people in Jerusalem. I am from South America, and aren´t we important to?!" We then explained the Book of Mormon and I wish you could see her face when we told her it was for her. She lit up! She said she wasn´t interested in joining any church, but I am excited to meet with her again this week. 

I think that is about it for this week! Lots of miracles and testimony builders, but those were definetely the highlights :) I feel so extremely blessed to be here. I can´t imagine where I would be without this gospel in my life and being a missionary has made me realize that even more. Thank you so much for all of the support. I love you!

xoxo,

hermana marsh

Catch up on May Photos!

The last couple of weeks, Madie has been unable to send pictures so today, she tried to catch up on pictures!  Here they are!

 Las Palmas missionaries! 

 Matahambres... Sorry doug. Really aren´t that great haha! 

 So many cats here.. I really don´t like cats. 

 My beautiful Donna! Daughter of an investigator :) 

 Nothin better :) 

 EL RANCHO!! My favorite place in LP. Closest thing to Cafe Rio I can get! All the missionaries are converted :) 

 My cute companion and I on mesa and lopez- my favorite street! No there are no shopping malls... ;) 

 We went up to Teror this week (about 1 hour bus ride) to eat at a members house. So green and beautiful up there! 

 Leo! He served in Sylvia and Dave´s mission in Brazil :) 

 Beautiful island!!!

 8 months never tasted so good! 

 I ate that... I ate that!!! And the worst part... I liked it!!! Gross nasty spaniard pig legs that have been sitting out for weeks actually taste really good. 

 I found my favorite member this week. Her name is Madison :) Her dad is from the states and her mom the canaries, hence the name. Nothing makes me happier than hearing her little voice say madison!! She is the cutest little thing I really can´t get enough of her.

 Week 6- zone conference! It was AMAZING! 

May 18, 2015

Mi Familia :)

Hi hi hi everyone! So fun to hear from everyone and that everything is going well. Your trips and adventures sound amazing! Always a highlight to hear from you guys- the absolute best!

I am writing you from Tenerife! We have our Zone Conference tomorrow and took a boat in this morning. I was not excited for waking up early for a three hour boat ride, but it ended up being so fun. Putting a big group of missionaries together always ends up being great :) We got here and played soccer with all of the missionaries, got some lunch, and now are writing! We´ll work here tonight, then have the conference tomorrow. Stay tuned :) Hermanas Costagliola and Santiago are here and I am on cloud 9!

This week was a great one for us in Las Palmas.  I need to start with Yamilka! We were able to have a great lesson with her this week and were able to talk a little bit about her testimony. She knows the church is true and loves everything about it, she just wants to be more sure with her decision. We moved her date back a little and are going to do everything we can to help her feel ready. She really is incredible you guys you need to meet her one day! We met in her house for the first time this week (normally we meet in the chapel after english class) and she has such an amazing spirit about her. You can´t help but be happy when you are around her! The best. I feel so blessed to be her missionary!

Remember Ana? She´s legit! We were able to meet with her this week and got to know her a little better and she really needs the gospel. I have always know the gospel was amazing and everything, but this week it really hit me how much the gospel blesses peoples lives. I hear there situations and my heart just aches for them. But there is help! And it is through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. There really isn´t anything better and I am so thankful to share that message with others.

We worked a lot in the area book this week and we found a miracle! Her name is Rocio and she is awesome. We met with her this week and she said that she knows the Book of Mormon is true and is willing to do her part to feel more sure about the church. She wasn´t able to come to church yesterday, but we have another appointment set up with her this week and I am really excited to see her progression. The cutest little 22 peruvian- I already love her! I fall in love with my investigators way too fast haha but they are just so cute!

Cristiani is doing okay. She has been needed to travel to Tenerife a lot these last two weeks, but we were finally able to meet with her yesterday. She has been reading in the Book of Mormon everyday and still loves meeting with us, just hard to find the time to come to church. My patience with the agency of other people has really been tested this week, but I know The Lord has a plan. She really is such an incredible person! 

And for the funny thought: I said a bad word in English class this week. I was trying to explain the he she and it form of a word, and accidently combined the last two... Good thing my companion is the only one who can understand English :) It was terrible haha I still feel awful about it. Also, I am old on the mission! A taylor swift song came on the other day that I had never heard before. Apparently she has a new album.  Good thing I have a companion to feel me in on those things haha! 

I think that is about it for this week. We have had lots of miracles with our less actives and that has been so amazing to see. The barrio here is so great and I feel so grateful to be serving here.  The church is true. I know it I know it!! And I love it :) I am so thankful for the blessing to be a missionary. I can´t imagine what life would be like without this experience. I am so thankful for all of your love and support, I really couldn´t do this without you guys. Have a wonderful week and I will talk to you soon! Os amo :)

xoxo

Hermana Marsh 

P.S. Feeling real dumb over here because I FORGOT my stinkin camara in Las Palmas. Pictures next week I swear!! 

2 pics from Hermana Rossbergs camera. 

Hermana Rossberg and her companions :)

 We recruited another spartan!! m h s goooo m h s!! 

May 11, 2015

Mi Familia :)

Oh I am still on cloud 9 from Saturday you guys are the absolute best. I am overwhelmed and how blessed I am to have you all as my family. Thank you for making Saturday possible it was the best thing I could have asked for! Love you all to pieces :) And I can´t forget to highlight my angel mother on Mother´s Day. How lucky am I to have Laurie Nelson Marsh as my mom?! Oh I love you and am so thankful for you in my life!

This week was absolutely nuts haha looking back it feels like I didn´t even have time to breathe! But that´s because we were busy, and that´s the best thing as a missionary. I want to start off by telling you a little bit about our trip to Madrid. The trip in total was only a little over 24 hours, but wow was it amazing. Elder Dykes and Elder Allen were the speakers and they left us so ready to get to work.  As Steph said, the meeting wasn´t at all about iPads, but about how we can help people come unto Christ. It´s really interesting to see how technology will have a role in things.  They weren´t only training us how to use them as missionaries, but as members too. We are in a day in age where we have been blessed with technology, and we need to use it to share the gospel!

They also stressed obedience a lots, of coarse, throughout the meeting. They had an interesting insight that I wanted to share with you. Our obedience is a way to show our faith. When we aren´t being obedient, we are trusting that The Lord´s way is better than our own. Of course that applies to iPads, but being obedient in general. I loved that when we are obedient, we are not only showing The Lord that we love him, but we are demonstrating our faith in Him as well.

The work in Las Palmas is going really well! Although our week was cut short, we were able to get a lot of work done. We had a miracle that I kind of already shared on Skype, but it was awesome so i´m going to share it again :) We went up and contacted this woman on the street and for lack of better words, she wasn´t the nicest lady i´ve ever talked too. I was feeling really discouraged and tried to rub it off by saying to Hermana Rossberg, "No worries that´s just Satan trying to make us mad, we are about to find a golden!" And then we found ana :) She is from Romania and we sat and talked to her about 30 minutes about her beliefs and ours and she is incredible. We have another appointment with her tonight and I am so excited- she is darling!

I don´t know if you remember Paola, but we had an awesome first lesson with her about 3 weeks ago. She has been so busy with school and work, but we were able to visit with her this week and she is sooo great. So sad that she is so busy because the time that we have with her is so great! She accepted the invitation to be baptized though, and we have an appointment set up with her for this week. She is great i´m excited to see her progress!

Cristiani and Yamilka are both doing great :) Not much of an update for them this week, but they are both still progressing and doing well. Love these two women so much!! 

I think those are all of the highlights for this week. Lots of stories and miracles to share, but then we´d all be here all day so i´ll wrap it up :) I love you guys so much- really thank you so much for all that you do for me. Have a great week and I will talk to you so soon!

xo,

Hermana Marsh

ALL of the missionaries in my mission! 

Family Home Evening

Note from Madie's mom:  Madie has had a Senior Couple serving in Las Palmas for the past year but of course Madie has only known them for the month of April.  They live in what was the mission home when Doug served there over 10 years ago!  They blogged about the last family home evening that the Hermana's did before the Larsens (the senior couple) left the islands for Madrid.  There are lots of pictures of Madie, so I thought I would just share Hermana Larsen's post of the activity.  Enjoy!
The sisters taught our last Home Evening Lesson.  That started out by giving everyone an Oreo cookie.  I was very blessed that they were one short, and didn't give me one, because we were supposed to put the cookie on our forehead and try to get it into our mouths without using our hands. I did get some fun photos.

And the winner is Elder Priest!

And of course there was a point to this activity.  Trying to get the cookie in our mouths represented our journey here in this life.  Without the use of our hands, getting the cookie in our mouths was very difficult, and for some, impossible.  Then they let us eat the cookie by using our hands.   Easy, right? Our hands represent pray, scripture reading, prophets, personal revelation from God.   If we use these tools that the Lord has given us, our lives are so much easier.

Afterwards, we played a group game that was actually pretty fun.  We were line up in two rows. We all held hands.  Everyone, but the first person in line, on each team, closed their eyes.  A coin was flipped, and if it landed on heads, then the first people squeezed the hand of the person next to them and so on down the line.  The last person in the line then grabbed for a water bottle that was on the chair at the end.  

 Here we have Felix winning one of the rounds.

But, by far, the funniest part of the evening was watching how uncomfortable the missionaries were as they were holding hands.  It was just too much for Hermana Marsh. 

 Here are just a few of the people that we are going to miss when we go to Madrid.

Cynthia, Juan Carlos, Victor, Luciano, John, Felix, Elders Bartholomew, Priest, Hermana Larsen, Rossberg, Ximena, Elder Ruiz, (Row 2) Elder Rawson, Antonio, Christiani, Hermana Marsh

Afterwards, we celebrated Elder Rawson's birthday with a cake that the hermanas made for him.

And I also made him brownies, that he was kind enough to share with his companions.

After Home Evening, the hermanas showed me the gifts they received from one of their investigators.  Pretty sure Hermana Marsh will use hers for pajama pants.

For our last district meeting, the two districts decided to have a joint meeting.  We enjoyed, Cafe Rio Sweet Pork Burritos, Mexican Black Beans, Cilantro Rice, Texas Caviar, and Brownies.  Yum, yum! What a great group of missionaries we have been able to serve with. 

AND Here are a couple more pictures from Hermana Larsen:

The last activity at the Larsen's house

 sour cream enchiladas, Texas Caviar, Mexican rice, and pecan pie

 Elders Bigelow, Stevenson, Nash, Guerra, Priest, Bartholomew, Rawson, Ruiz, 

Hermanas Rossberg and Marsh

 Las Palmas District meeting

 Hermana Larsen inspected all the missionaries apartments and found the Hermana's apartment clean!

 This picture is after English class with a girl named Annie