4/21/14
Well, we did it. We made it through Semana Santa (Easter)! This week was so hard! The HARDEST but my favorite.:) None of our investigators could meet with us this week.. So this week was full of contacting! We knew it was going to be hard, and I am a FIRM believer in planning! We planned where we were going to contact the certain times we would spend contacting in that area and a goal of how many people we were going to talk to. It is so much better contacting with a plan and a purpose. When you are just wandering around with no clue, contacting is almost impossible. When I just walk around without my purpose as a missionary in mind, doubts are always placed in my head. I look at someone who I know I should talk to and start thinking "they don’t look like they’ll talk to me", or "you don’t know what to say" or " what if they do want to listen? You don’t know very much Spanish"! So I end up not talking to anyone! Having a goal and a purpose makes it so much easier for me. I have also realized that it doesn’t matter if they say no (that has been a hard lesson). I was so terrified of people rejecting me. But I have realized that they have their agency and our purpose as missionaries is to only "invite other to come unto Christ..." We can only invite. It is sad when they say no, because you know how much this gospel will bless them, but Hermana Endicott always says "it’s ok, the gospel is still true" and moves on to invite the next person. I feel so much more confident contacting now! It also helps to know that you’re never alone. I will always have a companion with me to back me up. I spoke with a lot of interesting people on the street. One man was really Catholic, He was really nice and wanted to learn more. He kept telling us we were apostles! Then we met a woman named Mercedes. I contacted her and said "Hola, buenas. Somos missioneras de la Iglesia de los Santos de los Untimos Dias. Tenemos un mensaje acerca de Dios y nuestras familias. Creemos que Dios es nuestro Padre Celestial y..." (Hello. We are missionaries of the Church of Latter Day Saints. We have a message about God and our families. We believe that God is our Heavenly Father and…) She stopped me in mid-sentence and would not stop talking about how we were "Angel face Jovenes (young people)" Over and over she would not stop talking about how we were like angels and looked like angels and how education and religion is what we need to focus on and how education is the most important thing we can do and how we are just young angels. She kept grabbing my arm calling me Guapa (lovely) Angel! it was funny.
Easter was kind of a downer... We didn’t really do anything special. I woke up, got ready, and went to correlation. Church was the same. I played Easter songs in Sacrament Meeting that no one has ever heard before! We talked about the resurrection for about five minutes in the Gospel Principles class and that was it. For the people here in Gijon, Easter isn’t as big of a deal as the day Christ was crucified, which is really sad. I still wanted to do something special, so I made cookies the night before and Hermana Endicott and I watched Together Forever and Our Heavenly Father’s Plan. So it was fun, and I dedicated some of my personal studies this week to Christ and the resurrection. They do make these cool palm leaf things here in Spain for Easter. The God Parents buy them for their God children. They are dried palm leaves that are woven in cool shapes and they put chocolate in them. That’s about it. I think they have bigger celebrations in Madrid, but for Gijon it was just another day. I did have to make Easter dinner (lunch, we don’t have dinner here) I make everything! Hermana Endicott can’t cook. It was really scary at first, but I am really good at cooking. I make chicken fettuccini, fajitas, lasagna, rice. I even make cake and banana bread!
I love that talk! (Elder Scott, “I Have Given You an Example” from conference) That is something that I have definitely learned here. We are teaching a recent convert who is less active. He was baptized and right after went inactive because he had a problem with the Law of Chastity. The other Hermanas were teaching him and would only focus on how he needed to talk to President Florin and how he needed to repent. They weren’t making any progress with him and would always talk about how awful the lessons were. When they left they gave him to us and we decided to make each lesson focused on him feeling loved, by us, the branch and Heavenly Father. The lessons have been getting better little by little. If we focus of our love for Heavenly Father and the love we have for the people we teach, they will feel that love through the Spirit and like Elder Scott says, “They will gain confidence in your love and the love Heavenly Father has for them.”
AHHH I thought Joseph would have his call by now. It seems like mine came so fast! I know how he feels! Having patience for that was so hard! I can’t wait to hear where he goes! I know it is the Philippines!! I can feel it! How is he? Is he really nervous? If he is tell him he shouldn’t be. I am not going to lie, the mission is the hardest thing I have ever done in my entire life, but I have changed so much and each day I love it more and more. You are going to be exhausted, but it is worth it! I hope he knows I am here for him if he needs to talk to anyone or if he has questions.
I haven’t gotten any Easter packages yet, I did get the package with the gymnastic shirt in it. If you send them to the mission office I don’t get them until Zone Meeting, which won’t be until the 30th of this month Thanks for packages though, they do make me really happy, especially the ones with pictures. I love seeing you all and hearing about what you are doing. I am really thankful that I have so much support from people back home.
I love you all so much! I was thinking today that the next Mother’s Day will be the week I get home. Time is flying by so fast. I miss you a lot, but at the same time it is really sad. I love being here and I love what I am doing. Being a missionary, wearing this tag, the experiences I have had has changed my life and I will forever look back on this experience with gratitude and love. It is a sacred and special experience that I will never forget. Thank you for supporting me in this decision to serve a mission and encouraging me to serve.
I love you!
¡Hasta Luego! Hermana Brumble
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