January 18, 2016

Hi Family!

YAY OLIVIA!!!! She´s coming to Spain!! I totally called it. Oh I love

this country and I'm so excited to share it with her! Paella, churros,

and tortilla parties will definitely be happening. Best news of the

week :) Happy to hear that everyone is happy and healthy. It's always

the highlight of my week to hear from you guys. This week was a great

one!

The highlight this week was... the temple! We were supposed to go this

week, but the temple is closed so we assumed that we wouldn't get to

go this transfer. It's my companions last transfer though, so we got a

phone call from the AP's one night asking us if we wanted to go the

next day. Of course!! I don't know what it was, but this time was SO

amazing. I mean it always is, but this time was even more incredible

for me. I love the temple!

We had concilio this week as well which is always a highlight. I feel

like a broken record, but I always leave feeling so grateful to be a

missionary. It's so fun to be with other missionaries and the Pack's

talking about the things and people that we love. And we even stole

the Gijon hermanas (Santiago and Rossberg) after to help us with our

work and for a sleepover :) It was exactly was I needed. So grateful

to be a missionary!

Our people are doing great. We visited Sonia a few times this week and

as of Saturday she is cigarette free! Her brother is here visiting and

that was the biggest blessing. She's having a hard time dropping

smoking (as anyone would) and he is keeping her distracted and busy.

The only sad part is she didn't come to church yesterday... and I

don't know why! The worst. Still excited about her though. Nicole is

kind of in the same boat. Great lessons during the week, but something

always comes up on Sundays. We had a really great lesson with her

yesterday though, so hopefully she'll make it more of a priority.

We still have faith with Ramber!! The answer is still kind of up in

the air, but it's not a no! We had ward council yesterday and

seriously the whole ward is praying for him.  We love him and are

praying hard for him.

We have our English class miracle... Lenny. He is my favorite right

now! He has been coming to english class for months now and we've been

trying to meet with him, but it's been a little hard over the

holidays. Things have settled down a little bit more though and we had

an AWESOME lesson with him this week. He's active in the catholic

church, but there are things that he doesn't like. He really wants to

know what church is true and is willing to act. He came to church and

everything!! Funny story though. We were walking to our lesson and I

was talking to him and not paying attention where I was going and ran

RIGHT into a pole. I have a bruised face and everything hahaha! So who

knows if he's coming out of pity for me or not, but we'll see :) I'm

excited!

I think that's about it for this week. We found a few new menos

activos that we are really excited about. And we are so excited for

the missionary devotional this week! We are very blessed missionaries

and are trying are hardest to make our Heavenly Father proud. I know

this church is true. My testimony is strengthened everyday by sharing

it and I will forever be grateful to my Heavenly Father for letting me

serve Him in Spain. It has changed me! I love you and am praying for

you.

xo,

Hermana Marsh

 Toledo!

January 11, 2016

Familia :)

Wade!!! Oh that was the best news I heard all week! And half of Spain

heard about it too :) Welcome to the world baby wade! Can't wait to

snuggle you soon. And Happy Happy Birthday to my sweet Daddy! I'm the

luckiest daughter in the world. Thank you for all of the pictures,

videos, and updates this week. Happy to hear that everyone is happy

and healthy. The best news of the week is that festivos are over!!!

Los Reyes was great and everything, but wow am I excited to get back

in to normal mode. Still a wonderful week though!

We have been focusing a lot on Ramber this week and I honestly still

don't know if he will be able to be baptized this week or not. We had

a Noche de Hogar with them last night and he volunteered to offer the

lesson. Without us saying anything, the topic he picked was baptism.

He is the best! It was a great lesson, but his mom wasn't too happy.

It's so hard because everyone in the room was on board except her! We

are praying for a miracle. We left the room laughing so i'm not

worried about any hard feelings, I just really want this for Ramber.

Yamil has helped a lot though. He has such a strong testimony and it's

been fun to talk with him in English!

Sonia is great. She has officially quit smoking, stopped drinking

coffee, broke up with her boyfriend, and is coming to church every

week instead of the Catholic church she went to before. Who is this

girl?! She is the most willing and determined person I have ever met.

We are planning her baptism for the 22nd and I know she can do it! We

just need a couple more weeks to make sure she is free from her

addictions. Pray for her!

Nicole is doing well. She hasn't been keeping up with her commitments

though, so we decided to just read with her this week. It was

incredible she understands everything! I seriously am shocked I don't

know where it is coming from haha but I think we made a big change

this week. She wasn't able to come to church this week though which

was a little disheartening, but we're working on it. She's so cute she

made a cake for my companion for her birthday, but it burned while we

were in the lesson haha whoops! It's the thought that counts :)

Remember Aga? The woman from Poland? She has a lot of things going on

and it is going to be a long road, but we taught the gospel of Jesus

Christ this week and it was such a powerful lesson. She wants to get

baptized but has SO many things in her past and doesn't believe that

she could ever be worthy of such an amazing thing. We assured her that

the Atonement was made for EVERYONE and that could be forgiven for

everything. She asked for a blessing of comfort and it went really

well. Thank you Elders! She has cut down her smoking in half and

stayed for all of church yesterday for the first time (she normally

can't go that long without smoking). She's the most selfless person I

know. She gave me shoes for absolutely no reason this week. I can't

handle how nice the people here are sometimes!

So there's just a few of the miracles we've seen this week. We're very

blessed that is for sure. Hard things happen every single day out

here, but we always come home feeling grateful for the experiences we

have been given and for the opportunity to learn from them. We have

fun things coming up too! We have concilio this week and then a world

wide missionary devotional the next. We are excited! It's a wonderful

time to be a missionary. Especially in Spain :) I love you guys and am

praying for you every day! Thank you for everything- have a great

week!

xo,

Hermana Marsh

I present: Roscon de Reyes and THICK spanish hot chocolate. We
couldn't get more spanish haha Feilz Reyes!

 Nilo! He took us out for milkshakes for my companions birthday :) HE

IS THE BEST!

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!)