Week 4 Letter!

DEC 19th letter

Mom and Dad,

Everything is going great! I love it here more and more each day. It’s crazy how long I’ve been here. I just realized today that I only have a couple of weeks left. Tell mom that I am warm enough. It is really pleasant here, my companion is from California so everything is 10 times colder to her.

Today, when we went to the temple, it was raining so hard! It is so beautiful here, it gets really foggy sometimes, but I love it. Today is kind of crazy, so I dont have a lot of time to email. We had a meeting about a our residency identification card. I have a meeting with the police on February 4 to do finger printing and then I will get my card 40 days after that. I’m kind of scared.

I had a really cool experience at the park on Thursday. I was with Hermana Samuelson. We were on the metro, and didn’t get off at the right stop. We got of at the one after and both decided that it was Heavenly Father´s way of telling us we needed to talk to someone at this stop. We walked probably ten steps when I looked over and saw this guy sitting waiting for the metro. At the same time Hermana Samuelson and I looked at each other and said “him”. We went up to him and started to talk to him. His name was Juan and had never heard about the Mormons before. He took a Book of Mormon and was really excited to read it. He asked us if there would be a way to reach us if he wanted to know more. We got a referral from him and two other people that day. Definitely a tender mercy from my Heavenly Father. It was a great day.

I’m so glad everything is going well with you. I love hearing about what everyone is doing. Tell mom congratulations and that she´ll get a letter from me. I don’t have much more time so I will probably send you a letter. I haven’t gotten any packages yet, but have gotten letters from grandma and grandpa and Karl and Suzanne. Please tell Mike and Lynn Criddle thank you for the letters and that I will try my best to send them a letter. Also tell Janice Wayman thank you for the uplifting emails.
I will talk to you soon! I love you all!!!

¡Le Amo!-Hermana Brumble

12/12/13 Letter & her District

 Hermana Brumble's 12/12/13 Letter! 

Mom and Dad!

Thank you so much for your letters! I love hearing from you guys and hearing about all the things you are doing. I am learning so much!! Spanish is hard and it get really frustrating at times. I'm improving each day and can now pray, bear testimony, recite scriptures, extend different commitments, recite the purpose, and recite Joseph Smith´s First Vision. Its so much fun being here. I love the people, the food, and the culture!! Each day I miss home less and less. I do miss all of you, I wish you could all come and be missionaries with me! I get new investigators this week, and one of my old investigators will be baptized! These are just my teachers, but they make the experience very real. Its lots of fun.
I went to the Parque again this week, My compañera was Hermana Ramos. She is very different from me, but it was lots of fun. We faced a lot of rejection, it was very discouraging at first, but whether they know it or not, we made a difference in their life. Its really funny, on the days that it is more cold, Spanish people are very reserved and kind of grumpy. But on the days when the sun is out and its warm, they are so friendly and happy, and every time you say Hola! they want to give you tons of besos! (kisses)Every day we have physical Activity. We all go to the park and play soccer with all the spanish kids. I am getting so good!! I´ll be pro when I get back.
My companion sister Plummer and I are getting along great! We love being with each other, she is very different from me, but a huge blessing in my life. We´re best friends!! She says hello and gives her love.I love my calling. It is the Musical Director from the MTC. I am in charge of all music on sundays. I pick the Hymns, pianists, choristers, and special Musical numbers for Sacrament, priesthood, relief society, President´s Devotional, and the Fireside. It is a lot of work, and I am usually the only piano player, but it is lots of fun! As of right now, there are only 15 of us at the MTC. 7 in my district. Only the Spanish speakers are left. The French speakers, and the Russian speakers left a couple of days ago. It is crazy how small it is. We will be recieving a group of Italians and American Russian speakers after Christmas, but as of right now its just us. When the French Tahiti group left, They all had shell necklaces that they gave to each of us. I have about 10!

They said it represented their love for us. It was really sweet!I am so excited to hear about Sam and Ben!! They will do awesome and it will be exciting to hear about all their wonderful experiences.I had a great time at the temple today. Each time is really spiritual, but today I could really feel the spirit. I know this is where I am supposed to be and that Heavenly Father loves each of us. I wish you guys could see how beautiful this temple is. There is an olive tree on the grounds that they planted here. They said it was older than Madrid!! I hope I can send you guys pictures soon. I have a lot!

Today is P-Day, last P-Day we went to Madrid, which is amazing! Today we will be going to a big mall they have. Its a lot of fun on P-Days. I look forward to them and love to hear from you guys.The house looks beautiful! I’m going to miss Christmas there, but it will be lots of fun here. Christmas will be our P-Day. We will be caroling that day, I am so excited. We are learning some traditional Spanish Christmas carols. One is about the fish in a river watching the birth of Christ. Its pretty interesting. The cooks are so great. They always try to make us feel as much at home as possible on Holidays, we will be having a special breakfast and dinner that day. I can’t wait to experience some spanish traditions. I´ll tell you guys all about it. So how is everyone? Has Mom made Christmas Caramel?? Will you let Shirlene Teagan know I received her letter, and thank her for me. Tell her I’m am loving it here and play the piano every day!!This week I came across a scripture that meant a lot to me. I think it is in Jeremiah 20, I don't have my scriptures right now. But it talks about rejection and how hard it is, but because of the testimony in my heart, it says "his word was in my heart as a burning fire." I will continue in this work. Rejection is so hard. When people are rude or unkind, it feels awful, but because of this burning feeling I have in my heart, I know that I can have strength to continue. I know Heavenly Father is with me and that I have the companionship of the Holy Ghost. I have been set apart as a messenger of Christ. People will recognize that and will feel the Spirit when I bear testimony of Him. I am so excited to get out there and start working!I met my mission president on Saturday. He and his wife are so kind. I am truly blessed to have them as leaders and examples. They are so excited and I feel the same.I miss you guys a lot. Tell everyone I love them, and that they are in my prayers. I cant wait to hear from you again. Thank you for the emails, they bring me a lot of comfort.¡Le Amor! -Hermana Brumble

This is my District! The Amulek District!! Hermana Plummer is standing behind me, She is my companion. Hermana Davis is in blue, and her companion Hermana Demayola is standing to the right of me. Elder Freise from Germany is on the end, he is going to Colorado Springs Spanish speaking. Elder Marshall is next to him. They are our zone leaders. One of our teachers Hermano Sanchéz is in the middle, he is getting married today! And Elder Dean our distrect leader is behind Hermana Plummer! They are great!

New Calling and a HUGE Dog

After more than a week, Hermana Brumble finally emailed again! Here is her letter:

Dec. 6th 2013

I love it here in España. It is beautiful, and each day the Spirit testifies to me in so many different ways that this is where I am supposed to be! Mission life is so hard. I’m having a great time, but I definitely feel Satan working on me every day. So please keep me in your prayers. I have been studying the language every day, sometimes I feel like I am getting it and everything is great, but some days I definitely feel discouraged. I constantly am praying and reminding myself that I have only been here for a little over a week.
My companion’s name is Hermana Plummer, she is from Southern California. She was on her high school Water Polo team. She is so kind and definitely is a blessing in my life. We are very different, but get along great. There is a Hermana that is (or used to be) in our district, Hermana Johns. She is exactly like me, we were hoping to be companions, but I feel like it was a blessing that we weren’t because we wouldn’t get anything done.
I have been teaching every day in SPANISH!! So scary. The investigators are our teachers so it isn’t so bad. One of our investigators is already getting baptized!! Sister Plummer and I are a great team!
My experience in the park was so great. I was with Hermana Londoño, she is French so she couldn’t speak much English, but was pretty good with Spanish. We were talking to everyone and weren’t seeing much success. The first people we spoke to were missionaries for the Jehovah Witnesses!!! Of Course!!! We were so discouraged so I said a prayer in my heart asking Heavenly Father to lead us to someone who is ready to hear our message. I immediately felt so much love for everyone around me and wanted to get to work right away! We decided to walk around this beautiful pond, and saw this man walking his HUGE dog. We both looked at each other and started running towards him. We started to talk to him about the Church. He spoke Spanish and was so nice. We started to tell him about the Book of Mormon. He stopped us in mid-sentence and said, "Today I wanted to buy a book to read in the park. I was so angry after I left because I forgot my money. I see you two and you both look so happy. You run towards my and start telling me about this book, and you say it is free. I know who you are and I know what this book is. I will take your book, and although I cannot promise I will be baptized I will read it out of curiosity. Thank you so much for you kindness." I felt so blessed. We both started crying. We had so much confidence after that. we placed 8 Books of Mormon that day. During singing at the end of our experience, we were asked to go around and talk to the people listening to us. It was such a great experience, I can’t wait to do it again tomorrow.
I have also been given a calling! I am the Mission Music Coordinator. I love it. I was so excited to receive a calling. Such a blessing. I am in charge of all the music and special musical numbers on Sundays.
The MTC is so small. There are about 40 of us here, in all! As of right now, there is a group of us going to Spain, all of us are from America. There is a group going to France they are from French Tahiti and France. And the cutest couple from Switzerland. There is a group going to Russia they are from the States and the Ukraine. And one missionary going to Colorado, he is from Germany and is in our District. Everyone here is amazing. It was funny, the French missionaries thought I was French! I think I am the least European looking missionary here.
Elder and Sister Bennett (Second Quorum of the Seventy, currently serving in the Europe East Area Presidency) came to talk to us this week. They are great, and so spiritual.
We all went to the temple again today. The temple is beautiful. I hope we will all get a chance to go together someday. There is gold everywhere, on the ceilings and walls. There are also Celtic knots everywhere to represent eternity. All decorations are a part of the culture here in Spain. I always feel the spirit so strong.
It is currently 12:02pm Friday, December 6 right now. It is a little chilly, but very clear and beautiful. The weather is so nice. Every day, we run to the park and play soccer with the Spanish kids, who smoke by the way!
Our usual preparation day is on Thursday, but today is a holiday in Spain (Constitution Day) and they wanted to give the teachers a day off, so our preparation day got pushed back a day. I only have 6 minutes left to e mail, so please give my love to everyone and tell them they are in my prayers. Tell mom that I love her and have been thinking of her often. I hope you all are great! I love you and love being here.
I love you guys!
Hermana Brumble

She Made It!!

Hermana Brumble made it to Madrid! Here is what she had to say about her first day at the MTC:

Nov. 26th 2013
"I made it! FINALLY! Im so excited to tell you about everything that has happened so far. after you left, I had no trouble at all finding where I was going. Everyone met up and we boarded the plane. I sat with Hermana Davis, Hermana Johns, Elder Anderson, and Hermana Bennett. They are all so nice and going to the Madrid Mission with me. The lay-over in Georgia felt like forever, but the plane ride to Madrid was torture! I had the hardest time going to sleep, I probably slept a total of 5 minutes. So I´m pretty exhausted, but I´m here. Madrid is beautiful, I love everything about it! It even smells amazing!. The temple here is the most amazing building I have ever seen. We will get the opportunity to go there on thursday and go through a session. Today is a relaxing day, we are touring the building and area and getting to know everyone, the only instruction was to NOT go to sleep till after dinner so we will get used to the time change. I had a meeting with the MTC President, and recieved a companion. Her name is Hermana Plumber. I dont know much about her or where she is from, she doesn´t get here till tomorrow. I´m sure I will love her and get along with her just fine. We will be having orrientation tomorrow and starting classes. We are going to learn some basic Spanish and start teaching people in the streets on Saturday. After we are done teaching, we all gather in the park and sing hymns as loud as we can to draw people in. Sounds like the perfect day! I´m so excited to hear from you and tell everyone about my wonderful experiences. Give my love to everyone and tell them I will be in touch with them soon.

Te Amo! Hermana Brumble"

Welcome!

On June 19th 2013, Makenzie opened her mission call. 

Dear Makenzie Anabelle Brumble:

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Spain Madrid Spanish Speaking Mission. You should report to the Spain Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, November 27, 2013.

This is Makenzie's Mission blog! I'm Kenzie's sister, Sammie. And I will be updating this blog throughout preparations and the duration of her mission in MADRID SPAIN!! :)

Her family is so excited to be apart of her service. And are excited to hear about how the Gospel is blessing the lives of those in Spain and the missionaries there.