January 4, 2016

Mi Familia :)

Happy 2016!!! That means Birthday week for so many of my favorites!

Happy Birthday Steph, Oliver, Tisha, Dad, and Baby Boy (come

already!!). I love you all and am so grateful for your positive

influences in my life. I'm the person I am today thanks to you guys! I

hope you have great days and are spoiled rotten :) Today, I feel

really grateful. The miracles that happened this week were amazing and

I am so grateful to my Father in Heaven for them.

I look back at the week, and I really am astounded at the work we were

able to do. It is SO HARD to work with people during this time of the

year. Between Christmas, New Years, and Los Reyes (Jan 6th holiday

here in Spain that is bigger than Christmas) not very many people are

exactly excited to meet with us. I'm not going to lie when I was

absolutely dreading this week, but Heavenly Father is SO good. I am

amazed that we had things to do all week! We started the majority of

the days mainly blank, and come home with a day full of lessons. Every

time. I don't understand it, but Heavenly Father is just so good! And

the best news is- after Wednesday the holidays will be over and the

work will be normal again! But seriously I can't say it enough. I'm

astounded by the work we were able to do.

Before I get into the spiritual stuff though, the greatest thing

happened this week. I went to Costco! And oh is it beautiful. We had

interviews with President Pack, and then they let us tag along after.

Costco is great. Everyone go this week for me. Also we went bowling

today and I WON! Elders included! Not bad for not having bowled for a

year and a half ;) Okay now back to missionary things.

The best news this week... Yamil came home!! And Ramber is so excited

it is the cutest thing. He came home Tuesday and we have met with the

whole family twice since then. I still don't know if his mom will give

him permission, but she invited us over for lunch this next week which

is HUGE! We are hoping to get to talk to her about the baptism. But we

have been fasting and praying and I have faith that Ramber will do it

the 16th!

Sonia is also doing SO well. We pushed her fecha back a week so she'll

have a little more time to get out of the habit of smoking, but wow

that woman is determined. And so excited! I love it! She really is so

good to us. It was my companions birthday yesterday and she threw her

the cutest party. Complete with a Hello Kitty cake and everything haha

:) She's the greatest.

Lourdes goes to Ecuador this week- AH. We are going to get her ready

to go to church there though so she can come home to a BAPTISM. My

only worry is that her family isn't really on board with the whole

mormon thing, but she'll be okay. She's great and her daughter is the

cutest thing!

Nicole came to church for the first time this week and she loved it!

She finally didn't have to work this week and it was the greatest

miracle. A lot of the members already know her since she has come to

lots of the activities and they were so cute with her. I love this

ward! She has made a lot of progress this week i'm really excited for

her.

Remember Angel and Elena? The ones that are waiting on papers and were

supposed to get baptized Christmas Eve? Well obviously that didn't

happen, and we found out some good news and some bad news this week.

The good news is the papers are basically done and will be here at the

end of February when her daughter comes to visit. The bad news is

Elena does NOT want to get married/baptized in March because that is

when her and her ex-husband got married. So the ball is rolling which

is good! Sad that I won't be here for it, but i'll get some pictures

:)

I think that is about it for our investigators. We are teaching some

others, but those are the ones that are really progressing. And I am

so grateful for them! They make being a missionary a dream. Of course

it is still hands down the hardest thing I have ever done, but every

time I leave a lesson with them I am happy. This gospel makes me happy

and sharing it makes me even happier! Like I said earlier, I feel very

grateful today. Thank you for all you do. I love you and miss you!

xo,

Hermana Marsh

Happy Birthday Hermana West!!! Sonia is the greatest.

 New Years Eve UVAS! 

You have to eat 12 the last 12 seconds of the year. Harder than it looks, but fun!

 Birthday Breakfast! I made orange rolls :)

 P-day bowling, Madie sent us a video and she bowled a strike!

December 28, 2015

Mis Queridos :)

Oh I'm still on cloud 9 from Christmas. It was so great to see your

faces! Fastest 40 minutes of my life. Thank you so much for making it

possible that I could talk to everyone! I'm happy to hear that you all

had a Merry Christmas. It really is something special to spend

Christmas as a missionary. I love it! Although I will say I'm happy

that that was my second and final one... I don't think my stomach

could take it a 3rd year haha! The families here are SO good to us and

we were definitely taken care of this year. I love it here in Barrio 3

and feel very blessed to have been here for the holidays!

Okay I have lots to update you on. I was sick two weeks ago and skyped

instead of wrote last week, so I have 3 weeks to fill you in on!

Lourdes is doing GREAT! She's probably the person I am most excited

about. I don't know what it was, but she has a completely different

light about her then she did when we first started teaching her. She

has come to church every week and she even brought her daughter

yesterday. The members adored her it was the cutest thing. I'm so sad

she's leaving in just a couple weeks, but she'll be back in February

and we'll get everything ready for her baptism :)

Ramber's brother gets home from his mission TOMORROW! The moment we

have all been waiting for! We had a noche de hogar last night with the

whole family and I'm not going to lie I was a little nervous. Last

time we went it was very clear that we weren't wanted there by his mom

and sister, but last night was completely different. I don't know if

it's because there son is coming home in two days or not, but they

were happy to have us there and I think we were able to establish a

better relationship with them. We have his homecoming this week and we

are praying for a miracle so Ramber can get baptized! He's so ready

and i'm excited for him to have a little more support from home.

I don't know if you remember Sonia, but she has progressed SO much the

last couple of weeks. She's been coming to church, reading, and

praying. We also finished teaching the commandments and although she

has a few problems with some of them, she is willing to make the

changes she needs. We are preparing for her baptism the 16th! And as

long as she keeps progressing the way she has been, I have no doubt

that she will be ready. She made us a little Christmas dinner the day

after Christmas and it seriously was the cutest thing. She is so good

to us!

Nicole is doing really great as well. Still working on Sundays so she

can't come to church, but she came to the ward party and a movie night

that we had. We watched the best two years and she loved it-

especially the part where he got baptized. She had so many great

questions after and I am really excited for her.

Calixto got the priesthood yesterday and Nilo is still one of my

favorite people on the planet. Just so you don't forget about them :)

We have had a lot of miracles here in Barrio 3, but i'll stop there or

we will be here all day. I CANNOT believe that 2015 will be over this

week. I feel robbed a little!  My full year of being a missionary went

by so fast. I'm so thankful for this year and the opportunities that

my Heavenly Father has given me to grow here in Spain. There is no

where else I would have rather spent it. I love it here! I'm excited

to apply the things i've learned so that 2016 can be the best year

yet. I love you and hope you have a Happy New Year!

xo,

Hermana Marsh
One more from Christmas. My sweet ananda! These are the cutest kids on
the planet.

 My face looks a little creepy, but here's sonia at our christmas

dinner :) She got me caja roja for christmas... She is the nicest to

us!!

Also my christmas outfit :) Skirt from Emma and mel and cardigan from

mom. Thank you!!!

Merry Christmas from Madrid

Madie's email day on Monday was traded in for our CHRISTMAS PHONE CALL!  So today, Christmas day, she sent these pictures and we get to talk to her shortly!

Merry Missionary Christmas!

 We celebrated abuelita's birthday this week. She is my angel!

 District and Calixto Christmas breakfast!

 Christmas party in Pavones! I got a flamenco apron for our white elephant gift haha :)

 Christmas Eve dinner and sleepover! :)

Here's the cutest little boy on the planet for you. Love my Juan Carlitos!!

December 14, 2015

Hi Family!

So fun to hear from you all and that you are doing well. This time of

the year is the best and i'm so happy that you are enjoying it! This

week is probably going to be a short one. I don't know if that's a

good thing or a bad thing, but there ya have it. I almost made it my

whole mission without getting sick, but it hit me this last week and

it was terrible! And of course when you are with someone 24/7, they

catch it too. We spent a couple days at home and when we weren't we

were a little bit on the miserable side, but we are feeling a little

bit better today. I am grateful for health though!! The mission is the

worst place to sick, but we did see a few miracles.

We met with a lot of new investigators this week and I wanted to tell

you about one of them. Her name is Nicole and she is the cutest. She

is 18 and has a friend who is a member in Pavones. We have had two

lessons with her, and she loves it! She has the best questions and

seems so prepared. She works Sunday mornings, so we'll have to work

with that, but she did come to the YSA family home evening last night

and she LOVED it. And is already planning on helping them with the

ward christmas party Saturday :) She's great!

We celebrated Caixto's birthday this week and he is doing great. He

literally asks us every day what we have planned the next day to see

if he can help with lessons. There are 6 missionaries in this ward, so

I hope he doesn't regret his offer haha :) We will use it! He's doing

great though. Our other investigators are doing well Johnny came to

the family home evening last night too it was great. We received a few

member references with a lot of potential, so we are excited to see

what happens with that.

Sorry this e-mail is kind of short. Looking back on it, this whole

week was kind of a big blur haha! We have nice elders that gave me a

blessing though and a really do feel a lot better. We are ready to hit

it hard this week. And then i'll see you NEXT WEEK!!! Wahoo!! Our

P-day will be changed to Christmas, so talk to you next Friday :) Love

you!

xo,

Hermana Marsh

p.s. We went to the store this morning and the milk we bought expires

after my release date... Granted the milk here in Spain is nasty and

has ridiculous expirations dates but still, I cried a little bit. The

mission is the best I'm not ready!!!

Zone Conference! My bad about my big hair covering Elder Mayah's head haha

 Hermana Marsh esta inferma!

Dec 7, 2015

Mi Familia 

What a great week to be a missionary. Time is going by so ridiculously fast. I really can't even describe how blessed I feel to be where I am and with the people I am with. And the best part is... No changes this transfer! Hermana West are staying the same and we are so excited. They took out the other set of hermanas in our area so we have SO much work to do. A little stressful, but we are ready to work hard. Also, we are still sister training leaders and Hermana Toone is coming to my Zone! That means Intercambios wahoo! Greatest news I am excited for this next transfer. 

The biggest news of the week would of course be Calixto. He was baptized and confirmed a member of the church yesterday. He is one of the most grateful people I know and shared the sweetest testimony. Yesterday after he was confirmed I asked him how he felt and he was talking about how grateful he felt and the only thing that was making him sad was that it took so long to get him here. It made me take a moment to realize just how much the gospel blesses people's lives. There are people that are looking for the answers and the happiness, they just don't know where to find it. Calixto has given me more of a drive to work harder and find those people who are ready. He's amazing! 

Our next miracle is Ramber. He has kind of been on the back burner since we are just waiting for his brother to get home, but we decided this week to apply what we learned in Zone Conference and see if we could get him to come to Seminary. At first he was a little nervous to ask for permission from his parents, but we fasted specifically for him and he got permission! He is starting this week :) 6 in the morning and everything- this guy is awesome. 

Lourdes came to church yesterday again!! Oh I really am so happy to see her coming back. She leaves for Ecuador in a few weeks for the month of January, but every time we go over she is talking about her baptism. We will get her ready for February! Sonia also came to church yesterday and is making progress on quitting smoking. Lots of potential there. 

We have a new guy that I wanted to tell you about. His name is Johnny (30) and he is so great! We have been teaching him for a couple weeks now and every time he talks about how bad he wants a family and more peace in his life. Hello that's what the gospel is for! He gives us great summaries of the Book of Mormon every lesson and has the greatest questions. The only problem is he works at a grocery store and the hours are crazy during Christmastime, so he can't come to church. But we will figure something out! 

We had concilio this week and it was great as always. I am so thankful for the Packs! Every time I leave I feel so grateful to be a missionary. The Zone training went really well too. The only sad part was I had to say goodbye to Hermana Finch. So weird! She's a great missionary and I feel very blessed to have served with her. 

Okay that wraps up this week! We have lots of work to do and my body can't really catch up haha! I have a little bit of a cold, but don't worry mom! Show up to church with no voice and you leave with 3 people offering you soup for lunch. And lots of meds :) the members here are incredible. I love being a missionary and I've reached the point where I'd really like it if time slowed down. There really is nothing better than being a missionary. I am excited to see your faces in a couple weeks though for Christmas :) I love you and thank you for all you do for me! Have a great week and go cougars!!! 

Xo,

Hermana Marsh 

Baptism day!!

 

 We all got to be sister training leaders at the same time!! Love these hermanas.

 I got your Christmas package! 

We are ready to go with matching sweaters and everything :)

 New Back Pack  (she wore her old one out!)

November 30, 2015

Mis queridos, 

Happy Monday! So fun to hear from you guys. It looks like you had an

amazing thanksgiving! We had a great one here in Madrid. We had a zone

conference and Hermana Pack and Hermana Larsen are incredible. They

made a full thanksgiving dinner (pictured below) for ALL the Madrid

missionaries. That's about 150 people! It was sooo good. Then on

thanksgiving day we had a thanksgiving dinner made by missionaries.

Was it my mothers cooking? No, but we made it work :) We invited our

friends to come too which made it fun to be all together. A

thanksgiving to remember for sure. 

This week absolutely flew. Now that I think about it though this whole

month has flown. I can't believe it's December!! I'm excited

Christmastime is the best. But anyways! This week was so great.

Between the Zone Conference, Thanksgiving, and the miracles we got to

see, I feel VERY thankful to be a missionary here. During the

Conference we talked about the importance of working with members and

it was SO good for me. I always knew the importance to work with

members, but I never really knew how. We learned a lot though and I'm

excited to see the results.

Here's your Calixto update and funny story for the week. One of the

things they talked about how to work with members more was using

Seminary and Institute. So, we invited Calixto to come to institute

and had everything ready to go. It was 5 after, so we called him to

see where he said that he was at the church, so we hung up and just

kept waiting. Another 15 minutes passed and he was NO WHERE so we

called him again and he said that he was at the church waiting by the

TEMPLE in PAVONES. AHH!! I have no idea how the miscommunication

happened, but long story short we were late to institute :) Luckily

the temple isn't too far. He loved institute though the members here

are so awesome. They spent about 15 minutes planning everything for

his baptism. THIS SATURDAY! We are excited :)

Our next miracle this week was Lourdes. She was the woman we found in

the carpeta about 2 months ago. I haven't written about her in a

little bit because things have been a little slow with her husband not

really being on board with the whole thing. We had a lesson though and

she told us that her husband really isn't the problem, more she just

needs to make church a priority. She told us she didn't care if the

ceiling fell through, she would be at church. And for the first time

she came :) Biggest miracle!!! She is going to Ecuador for the month

of January which puts things on hold a little, but i'm very grateful

for the progress she is making.

I wanted to tell you about one more of our investigators that we met

with this week. Her name is Sonia and she is a machine. This week she

read 2/3 of the book of mormon. What?! She is literally is at the end

of Alma! Who is this girl?! I don't know how much of it she

understood, but she told us she knows that it is the word of God. She

has problems with the word of wisdom, but we set some goals and I have

faith that she can do it. She has come to church twice now and loves

it. Excited for her!

Oh one more thing. Nilo is still my miracle. With work he can only

come to church every other week, but he has come 3 weeks in a row! And

he made us ceviche again this week :) I told him that my parents were

coming in a few months and he said he'd make you guys some ceviche. So

get ready for some raw fish mom and dad :) It's delicious.

I think that is about it! I love you guys and am so thankful for each

and every one of you. It's hard to be away from home during the

holidays, but it's also the best time to be a missionary. What better

time of the year to share the gospel than Christmas?! I love it and am

very excited for this month. Have a great week! I love you and am

praying for you!

xo,

Hermana Marsh

 I forgot to send this pic of Beatriz and me. I LOVE this woman and am

so excited for you to meet her!

 Missionary thanksgiving! :)

 The pumpkin pie was a success!!!

November 23, 2015

Hola Mi Familia 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! I'm so thankful for each and everyone of

you and for the blessings you are in my life. I'm thankful for the

gospel and for the opportunity to share it with the people of Spain.

I'm thankful for a loving Heavenly Father that leads and guides this

work and that I get to be a part of it. This week was a great one and

it absolutely flew!

The highlights of the week were definitely our temple visit and the

meeting we had with Elder Christensen and Elder Dyches. I love these

men and their darling wives! They brought such a great spirit to both

of the meetings we had and they gave me the words I needed to here to

make me a better missionary. Sister Christensen especially stuck out

to me. First off she speaks Spanish perfectly so go her, but she was

so interested in our personal lives it was the cutest thing. She also

told me that I reminded her of Grandmother which might be the best

compliment I've ever received. I just cried! I absolutely loved the

meetings we had and the greatest part was Martin and Nilo came too :)

Our people are doing great. The biggest news is Calixto! He had his

interview and is good to go :) there is a stake dance this Saturday so

we have to push it back until the 5th, but he's going to do it! Oh he

is the best. He has a lot of stuff going on right now and it amazes me

how he finds time to read and prayer every day, meet with us, and come

to activities and church every week. The man is great and so ready for

his baptism. Prayers were answered this week!

Our other friends are doing the same. Frustrating a little, but we are

doing are best I'm trying to help them. Life in Spain is just hard!

People have to work ridiculous hours for hardly nothing and it doesn't

leave much time for anything else, but we are working with it. We were

able to find a less active this week and she might be the greatest

person. I don't think I've laughed that hard in months! Her name is

Pilar and she came to church yesterday :) love her already.

We have been contacting and working with members like crazy and this

week we were able to see the fruits of that. We have lots of new

people to teach and we are really excited about them! I'm not going to

bore you with all the names and details, but stay tuned :) we taught

the restoration a lot this week and wow I love that lesson. My

testimony is strengthened every time! There is power in it. If you

haven't read the Joseph Smith story lately- do it!

I think that's about it for this week. I'm currently on a train to

Alcorcon to go visit my people there :) oh I love the people here in

Spain I feel so incredibly blessed. Don't get me wrong I still miss

you all like crazy, but wow my heart is so full for these people. I

hope you all have a wonderful week! Os quiero 

xo

Hermana Marsh

Look who I got to see today!!!! 

The trio was back in action and we got to see one of my favorite people :)

 Temple!