January 26, 2015

Hola Mi Familia :)

Ah muchas gracias por todo de sus correos! It sounds like everyone had a great week- thank you so much for all the updates.  I am dying a little inside at how big Dantz is getting (a good big- you´re not fat, you´re beautiful ;)). Hooray for new babies! This week was a such a great one i´m excited to tell you all about it.

First off, I absolutely adore my companion.  It has only been 1 week and I already feel like we are best friends.  We kaugh all day long, but also feel the spirit constantly. That is the greatest thing as a missionary! We are both pretty new on the mission, so we still have that fire and desire to give it our all and it is the greatest. We are working really hard and I am excited to see the miracles this transfer.  She´s great! I am a loser and didn´t take pictures this week of us together, but there will be some next week!

As for our investigators, we made some progress this week! I want to start off with Charly.  He received the Holy Ghost and is officially a member of the church! There is no greater feeling you guys.  I love that 13 year old boy so much! He is going to be a great example for his brother.  We were teaching them this week and Rolando and without us asking, he said that he wanted to be baptized this summer.  In a perfect world it would be sooner seeing as it is January, but we can work with that! I was worried that he was closed to the idea and he isn´t! So that made me happy :) They are great.  I really love those two boys so much they make being a missionary fun.

We met with Paulozky this week for the first time and he is just great.  At the first of the lesson he kept talking about his desire to know more about the church and hey, that´s our job :) He was attentive during the whole lesson and gave the greatest prayer at the end. I wish I could´ve recorded it! He is so prepared I am excited to continue to teach him.  He wasn´t able to come to church yesterday so that was a little sad, but we have an appointment this week to see him again.  

Speaking of church, I had a talk this week... AH! It was super scary haha but I did it! I spoke on the steps we need to do to gain or strengthen our testimonies, and then the importance to share it.  I used the talk from President Uchtdorf in this last conference, and it´s a great one. Read it if you can! I spoke super fast and probably made a lot of mistakes, but I gave a 10 minute talk in Spanish wahoo! And I don´t have to do it again for a while :)

So in our rama there are about 50 members that come to church consecutively. We asked for a branch list and found about 200 people and I don´t know hardly any of them.  We have some work to do here in Alcorcon! It´s going to be a lot of work, but we are excited to get started on it.  I think it will not only be great to reactivate these people, but also a great opportunity to find new investigators.  

I went door knocking for the first time this week.  I am a real missionary now! Ah it was scary!! It really gives me such a rush when we knock and then I hear someone walking towards the door.  Haha i´m such a loser.  But seriously! We found some people and are going to pass for them this week, so we´ll see how it goes!

We had interviews with the Jacksons this week and I can´t say enough good things about them.  I feel so blessed to have them as mission presidents! 

I think that is about it for this week. To answer some questions, it is super cold here.. but everyone says January and February are the worst and we are almost halfway! Spanish is definitely coming.  I am by no means fluent and still have so far to go, but I finally feel like I can communicate with people and that is such a great feeling.  I am doing great and very happy to be serving The Lord here in Spain :) What a blessing! Look for missionary opportunities.  We can´t do it alone! I love you all and hope you have the best week :)  

xoxo, 

Hermana Marsh 

I don´t like my face one bit in this picture but here´s my cute companion :) 

And yes that is snow in my hair! 

 You guys. I am so happy to be here but the movie posters need to stop.  

And my obsession with Chris Pine doesn´t help... Into the woods!!! 

January 19, 2015

Hola Mi Familia!

Oh it´s so great to hear from you all- You sound amazing! Thank you for all of the great pictures and videos.  I have the cutest family in the world! This week was absolutely nuts haha get ready!

First off, we had an intercambio this week and I went to Mostoles with Hermana Brumble.  I had a an amazing experience and I learned something about myself! As all of you know, i´m a little crazy when it comes to punctuality.  Hermana Brumble is too, and for that day we weren´t late one minute and it was amazing how much less stressed out I was.  I was able to give all of my attention during the lessons to our investigators and the spirit and they were really powerful moments for me.  I hope to be able to apply that here in Alcorcón!

We recieved 2 new investigators that I want to tell you about.  The first is Palosky.  Hermana Costagliola and her companion before me contacted him in the street, but he wasn´t too interested.  Well, he showed up at church this week! He said that he wants to know more about the gospel and we have an appointment set this week :) HE came to US! I am trying not to get too excited because that really never happens, but it was a great feeling.

The second person I want to tell you about is Sandra.  I was starting to lose faith in contacting because all of our investigators that are interested are member references BUT Sandra changed me :) We found her contacting and visited her this week.  We had such a great first lesson! She asked us about church, the next lesson, and was really so nice.  She wasn´t able to come to church this week, but we are going to try and meet with her again and I really am so excited. She´s great!

Fulgencio came to church!!!!! He is the guy that works in the fruterria and I was seriously so happy when we walked into the building and saw him there.  It really is a little sad how happy it makes me when our investigators come to church, but oh well :) I think he liked it and I am excited to keep meeting with him and see how he progresses!

Last but not least, we had our baptism!!! Charly was baptized yesterday and it was so awesome.  I do have to say though, it was one of the weirder baptisms I´ve been to.  Let´s just say a 13 year old, freezing cold water, literally sprinting and squiling (how do you spell that?!) out of the font don´t make for the most spiritual moment in the world, but he followed the example of Jesus Christ and was baptized so I am happy! And his testimony after was the cutest :)

I don´t know how to fit this in, but it needs to be said.  Two of my favorite members told me this week that my face is getting bigger... ouch hahaha!

And for the big news... Transfer week is here and Hermana Costagliola got transfered to Santa Cruz (Canary Islands).  I am staying here with Hermana Finch.  She is DARLING! She is from Panguitch (for you Mckaela Evertsen :)) and I really am so excited to be working with her.  Funny story- we had a Zone Conference and I told Hermana Costagliola that I wanted to make more friends so I went and sat by Hermana Finch and we talked for about 20 minutes before the meeting started. Little did I know she would be my new companion! I am so excited to be working with her it´s going to be great :) I love you all and hope you have the best week!!

xoxo,

hermana marsh 

Say hello to the cutest baby in the world.  I love my investigators!!

 BAPTISM :)

 Father and sone :) This picture melts my heart!

 Saying goodbye to my companion :(

Love this girl!!!

January 12, 2015

Hola Mi Familia! 

It is so great to hear from you all this week! The birthday celebrations looked like so much fun :) I loved all of the pictures and videos thank you so so much!

Oh I have lots to tell you this week and I really hope it doesn´t come out like a mess, I really can´t remember English sometimes.  The first thing I want to tell you about is Los Reyes.  After P-day on Monday, we tried to set up some appointments, but no one was able to because it was basically Christmas Eve only bigger.  Not looking forward to it too much, we decided to contact for the rest of the night.  WHAT A BLESSING! During Los Reyes, there is a huge parade kind of similar to the 4th of July and there were so many people in the street that night.  Seriously though- i´m talking Disneyland at Halloweentime packed. It was awesome! We received almost the same amount of numbers in one night that we do in a normal week, plus we got to watch the parade :) After the parade we went back so our piso and ate some Roscon, the dessert that Spaniards only eat during this holiday.  The culture here is so fun I love Los Reyes!

Hermana Costagliola is the Sister Training Leader and had a meeting at the mission home on Tuesday, so I went to work with the sisters in Mostoles.  It was my first time being in a trio and it was really fun! They are both from Utah so it was fun to talk to them and get to know them a little better. We were able to teach some lessons and it was fun to see how other missionaries work.  That being said, I was happy to be back home in Alcorcón with Hermana Costagliola :) 

That didn´t last very long though because since she is the sister training leader, she has to do intercambios with all the Hermanas in our Zone so Wednesday we had another intercambio.  I stayed in Alcorcón with a Hermana Quintana.  She is from Bolivia and speaks absolutely. no. english. I was scared out of my mind you guys!! But I am happy to report that I survived and it was actually a great experience :) I still have a long way to go with the Spanish, but it was fun to have a 24 hour English fast. Plus she is GREAT! The lessons we had were awesome and it was really great to have her help here in Alcorcón.

I have some good news and I have some bad news.  We met with Rolando and Charly this week and Rolando needs a little bit more before he wants to be baptized.  I was a little sad at first, but I don´t want him to feel pressure and baptism is a big deal so I want him to feel ready.  That being said, Charly still wants to be baptized this week so that will be something to look forward too :)

I didn´t tell you guys about one of our investigators named Roberto, and I can´t really figure out why because he is great.  He is 17 years old and is a "friend" of one of the girls in the branch ;) He had a date to be baptized before he came, but his family wasn´t too happy about it so he decided to wait until they feel a little bit better about it.  I love teaching him though because he always talks about how excited he is to be a member, go to the temple, and be a missionary.  Such a fulfilling feeling for a missionary! He´s going to get baptized.  I don´t know when, but it´s going to happen!

Last story, sorry these things always turn into novels! We had an awesome lesson with Edwin this week.  We taught about the word of wisdom, but somehow (not somehow, the spirit :)) led to the Atonement.  The spirit was so strong- he started crying! This is a strong 47 year old colombian man you guys, it really was so powerful.  He said he wants to come to church and as soon as he finds the opportunity to talk to his boss, he is going to ask to work on saturdays and not sundays so he can come.  He is really so great! Same with Roberto, he´s going to get baptized.  I don´t know when, but it is going to happen!

I think that is about it for this week.  I ate lots of delicious food, spoke lots of spanish, and felt the spirit every day.  Transfers are this next week and my companion is most likely leaving me which breaks my heart, but i´m ready to start this next chapter and go forward with faith.  Being a missionary is hard, but wow it is the best decision I have ever made.  I learn more about the gospel every day and it is shaping the kind of missionary I want to be and the life I want to live when I come home.  I know Heavenly Father loves each and every one of his children and he wants us to return back and live with him again.  Because of this love and desire, we have the gospel to help us.  All we need to do is choose it! Les quiero muchisimo y espero que tengan una buena semana :) UN BESO <3

xoxo, 

hermana marsh 

January 5, 2015

Hola mi querida familia :) 

FELIZ AÑO NUEVO! Tambien, Happy Birthday to Steph, Oliver and Tisha!! We went to an italian restuarant today for p-day to celebrate :) I am thinking about you lots on your special days.  Thank you for the wonderful blessings all three of you are in my life! I hope you have the best days.

It looks like everyone had a great New Year´s! We had a great one here in Alcorcón.  We had dinner with a member and all of her family and I have something terrible to admit.  They served lamb and I ofcourse couldn´t say no even though it makes me a little nervous, but guess what I LOVED it! These latinos really know how to cook it is just great.  We were obedient and went home on time, but woke up at 12 to eat some grapes and celebrate the new year :) I am going to be a missionary every day of 2015 and I am so excited to see what this new year brings! 

After reading Steph´s e-mails, I am sad to admit that the same thing that is going on in Italy is happening over here in Spain.  On the 6 of Januarys we have Dia De Los Retes De Los Magos and it is even bigger than Christmas for a lot of people.  So, once again we had a hard time meeting with our investigators this week because of the holidays.  Don´t get me wrong I love them, but I am so excited to have a normal week of missionary work.  It´s going to be great! 

We were able to meet with some of our investigators this week though.  The first I want to talk about are Rolando and Charly.  They are doing great! Yesterday during fast and testimony meeting Charly went up to go bare his testimony, but he was too late. NO!! It´s the thought that counts right?? We were so happy that he actually wanted to though it was great feeling for a missionary.  They are still scheduled for next Saturday! We need lots of prayers going there way, but they are doing great.

We finally got to meet with Reni this week and we had such a great lesson with her.  We decided to do a little bit of a DTR to try and figure out how her feelings are, and we ending up having such a powerful lesson.  I really walked out of this lesson and was so happy to be a missionary!! She said she would come to church, but then Sunday morning she called to tell us she was sick.  That is our problem: We have awesome lessons during the week, but then this magic bug comes around sunday morning and makes all of my investigators sick.  The worst!!! We have faith though- poco a poco!

We had a miracle this week with a member reference we received.  We saw this man at our Branch Christmas Party and later found out that he was friends with our Ward Missionary Leader.  After talking to him, we got his number and had a cita with him this week at his fruit shop.  He is so great!!! He said that he had met with missionaries before, but they never taught him the lessons, just spiritual thoughts. After our lesson he was close to tears- the spirit was so strong! And do you want to know the best part? His friend that works in a meat shop next to him listened to part of the lesson and he is interest too! Oh it was so great.  Member references are so powerful- if you have someone that you think might be interested in the gospel, ask the missionaries! They can help you :) 

I think that is about it for this week.  Thank you for all of the love and support it means the world.  I love you with all of my heart and am so happy that we get to be together forever! Sé que este evangelio es verdadero y me encanta la oportunidad que tengo para compartirlo.  Tenga una buena semana :) 

xoxo,

hermana marsh

This may or may not be my favorite picture in the world.  We had a lesson during medio dia and had 20 minutes left until it was time to get back to work. This was our solution :)

 Happy with my cute new necklaces :)

 lunch with my companion and one of the less actives we meet with.  She is the CUTEST!

December 29, 2014

Mi Familia,

Wow seeing you guys was the best thing in the whole entire world! You all look and sound amazing.  I am so glad everything worked out and I was able to talk to everyone.  I love you all so much thank you for making it the best Christmas :) I´m excited to tell you all about the holidays here in Spain!

First off, David Archuletta came and had a concert for the missionaries and their investigators.  We brought Rolando and Charly and loved it! They are still singing campanas de belen every time we see them :) He is so talented and it was such an awesome experience to hear his voice and his testimony.  The spirit was strong and it was so great to have our investigators there.  Thank you David!

The next day we had a christmas devotional for the missionaries here in Madrid and it was absolutely incredible.  The topic was Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.  One perk of having a surgeon as a mission president is we got to watch the same surgery that Joseph Smith had when he was 7 on one of his patients WITH anesthesia.  Wow that was really cool to see! It made me very grateful for the life that Joseph Smith lived he really was incredible.

Then we had a special visitor- David was there! He sung for us and talked to every missionary it was seriously so nice.  Plus he gave me a package from home :) Thank you so much family you are the best!! I absolutely loved the devotional it really was awesome.

Christmas Eve- This day was so fun!! We spent the morning making cookies, then we delivered them to potential and current investigadors.  We sung some carols and had a really great day :) In the night we ate dinner at Rosa and Omars with their family and all the missionaries and oh my gosh it was so delicious!!! So much food but it really was so great.

Christmas- We started the day off opening our packages- my goodness you guys are incredible!!!  Thank you so so much I feel so blessed.  I most definitely cried when I opened the jewelry it makes me so happy :) Then we had breakfast at a members home and I made some cinnamon rolls that were sooo good.  We got to watch a movie, play some games, then I got to talk to my family!!! sorry I cried the whole time I swear I really was happy to see you guys :) Then we had dinner and a gift exchange- It was a very different, but amazing Christmas! It was a nice break, but I was ready to get back to work!

Because of the holidays, we weren´t able to meet with a ton of investigators this week, but we made a lot of progress with Rolando and Charly. They have a fecha for the 17 of january!!! I am so excited for them they are so ready.  The elders had a baptism this week and they came and I wish you could see their faces.  They make my heart so happy! I also got to play the piano at the baptism so that was really fun for me I missed it a lot.  

I think that is about it for this week! Sorry it is a novel I´ll try to be a little more brief in the next week.  I sure do love you guys! Thank you for all of the love and support.  Have a great week :)

xoxo, 

Hermana Marsh

 pics from christmas eve with one of the cutest boys in the world! 

 more pictures from the christmas festivities!

 And this is why i´m gaining weight... dang it spain why is your bread and chocolate so dang great.

 Probably one of my favorite girls in the world.  I braided her hair and then she did mine :) 

 Ward Christmas Party :)

 I have a cute companion!!! :)

 After the David Archuletta concert with Rolando and Charly :)

Marjorie's friend, Kendra, plays the keyboard for David and took these pictures.  She sent them to Marjorie and then Marj sent them to me! 

David had this picture taken and sent it to Allie

 Our Christmas eve feast!

 We coordinated on Christmas Eve :)

Pictures from our family Google Hangout!  So GREAT!

I found this picture on lds.org.  Madie asked me to find out about her new mission president coming in July.  His name is Kevin Pack and is from Mississippi.  He is on the left in this pictures and was in the church news in 2013 for helping with the cleanup efforts after a tornado while serving as stake president.  More to come on him.  For now, she has 6 more months with The Jacksons.  She LOVES them!

December 15, 2014

Mi Familia :)

Thank you so much for the emails this week you guys are the greatest! It sounds like everyone is doing great and enjoying the Christmas season. I can´t wait to see you all so soon! I love being a missionary at this time of the year.  All of our lessons are tied back to Christ and he perfect example.  I love my Savior so much! I love this Christmas season and the opportunity I have to be a representative of Him.

This week was so so great! We had the greatest experience that I want to share.  The nit picky details are what make it really cool so I´m going to try and explain it all, but I´m really sorry if it doesn´t make sense. Here we go! So if you remember Edwin, he is our investigator that works in the apartment office on Sundays.  He lives on the other side of Alcorcon, so we only really go there on Sundays.  We received a call from an unknown number (still have no clue who it was) that said there was someone who worked there who was named Edwin as well that was interested.  The call was a little sketchy, so we didn´t really think anything of it and went on with our day. A few days later we had a lesson with a woman we contacted in the street who lives pretty close to the office.  She failed us, so we decided to give it a try and see if this Edwin guy was really there.  Edwin wasn´t there, but Andres was.  He is 21 and a member of the church, but hasn´t been for about 10 years. Now here´s his side of the story... :)

About three months ago, one of his friends started talking to him about God and the after life.  After some time, he was left really confused and felt guilty about the life he had been living for the past 10 years.  He prayed to Heavenly Father to help him know what to do.  That week he was at work and saw Edwins Book of Mormon and then just a few days later we passed :) When we met with him and he told us that experience, he was almost in tears.  And this is a 21 year old man! He was so shocked that Heavenly Father not only answered his prayer, but so quickly! Our lesson about repentence is something I will never forget. After the lesson my companion and I were amazed at what the Lord had done! The fact that all of those pieces fell together was incredible.  I hope I was able to explain it okay because it really was a miracle.  We were instruments in the Lord´s hands and it was incredible :) I 

can´t wait to teach him more!

Our other investigators are doing really well! We had an awesome lesson with Edwin this week.  He is so ready for this he just works on Sundays! We are really hoping for a miracle with him.  His questions and prayers are so awesome I really love teaching him. 

We also got to meet with Rolando and Charly a few times this week. I don´t remember if I told you about them or not, but they are the kids of one of the members in the rama and they are awesome.  His dad is getting sealed to his wife this week and they are lost of questions about the temple- it was great! They are progressing and we are hoping to set a fecha soon, they are so ready! 

A highlight of this week was the missionaries hosted an FHE this week and it was a success! We had over 35 people come and there are only about 50 in the rama so it was such a great turn out I was so happy! We made Christmas themed bingo boards and played that with my Christmas candy.  Everyone loved it :)

I think that is about it for this week! We have David Archuletta this next coming week, a ward party, a mission party, lots of meal appointments, and then I get to talk to you wahoo! I love you all and am so thankful for you in my life :) Have an amazing week and i´ll see you on Christmas!!

xoxo,
hermana marsh :)

December 8, 2014

Hola Familia! 

I made it through transfer #1 wahoo! We received news that Hermana Costagliola and I will both be staying in Alcorcon and I could not be happier :) I absolutely love my companion and we get to be together for Christmas!! We work really well together and I am excited to see what we can do this transfer now that I know a little bit more about how to be a missionary.

This week was nuts! I look back on it and feel a little on the exhausted side, which is a great sign. We worked hard :) First off, we had an intercambio and Hermana Clements came to Alcorcon.  I was terrified!! I was so scared that we would get lost because alcorcon is a little confusing, but I am happy to report all went well. We didn´t get lost and we made a lot of progress.  Not to mention Hermana Clements is darling, we seriously had so much fun together!

We had a huge milagro this week I still have chills when I talk about it and it happened 5 days ago.  There is this family in our rama that was baptized a little less than a year ago.  They are the ones that feed us every week and they are literally the greatest people.  Anyway, they received news that Edison was going to be deported to Ecuador and had 24 hours to leave.  We went over to their house as soon as we heard and it was so heartbreaking to see their family saying goodbye to their daddy for who knows how long. The Elders have her a blessing and we prayed harder than we ever have.  The next day we were eating lunch at a members and they called and told us that he got cleared and was staying!! WHAT!! The Lord is the best!!!!! It was so amazing to see his hand when we are faithful and doing our very best. They are going to get sealed in february :) 

We are still spending the majority of our time finding, but I do have a few investigators that I want to tell you about.  The first is an update on Reni.  We taught her the plan of salvation this week and at the end she said, I love talking with you guys, I feel something inside when I´m with you. We then just started grinning and said that´s the spirit!!! We invited her to be baptized and she has a fecha wahoo :) She has a hard time coming to church though, so we´ll need to work on that.  We are excited to see her progress though, she really is so darling. 

The next people I want to tell you about are Rolando and Charly.  They are sons of a member here in Alcorcon and are 17 and 13.  They just moved from Bolivia and are so awesome!! They are so open to reading and listening to the Spirit it really is such a great experience to be teaching them.  They both came to church yesterday, and I am so excited to see their progression over the next couple weeks.  

Now I want to tell you about Edwin.  This man is so ready for the gospel!! He is from Colombia and we received his information from a member.  We have had a few lessons with him and he has been so engaged in every lesson and has kept all of the commitments we ask him to do.  His only problem is he works on Sundays, but he said he would pray this week and see if he could have some other options for work.  Our fingers are crossed!  We also have had members present in every lesson with him so far and the support he receives from the rama is so great.  If you can, go out and help the missionaries in lessons! Having a member present really makes a lesson it´s awesome.  

The last person I want to tell you about is Frederico.  He is 69 years old, and makes me laugh harder than anyone has in Alcorcon so far haha!! He is super in shape and this last time we went over he taught of self defense... you guys I was literally on the floor laughing the whole time he really is so great.  He wasn´t able to come to church this week because he went on an anniversary trip with his girlfriend (I know, girlfriend dang it), but he is very anxious to have us come back and teach him more so I am excited to see his progress.

I think that is about it for this week! It was a really great one and I am excited to see what this next transfer has in store.  We are working hard and are ready to bring others unto Christ! I am a happy missionary :) Thank you for all of the love and support- it means the world.  Have an amazing week!

xoxo,

hermana marsh

Here is my zone!

 We ate like queens this week! We had a meal appointment every day... and have appointments every day again this week ah! People are very generous the month of december.  Here is one of the meals we had this week, they are from ecuador :)

  Asaels birthday party! This little boy is my favorite one.  

                                        His parents are the ones that had the miracle this week!

 We love Christmas time! These Elders are seriously so funny.