Week 42 in Spain! (12th in Madrid)

9/8/14

This week has been pretty challenging, not very many lessons. But I'm feeling good regardless. :) Our investigator came to church this week! Finally! I was so happy. We had a pretty serious lesson with her.  Summer is a hard time in Madrid because everyone is on vacations, and now they're getting ready for school so everything is really busy. I think it will be better soon.

We had a pretty crazy experience this week. Hermana Reyes and I were walking back to our piso at night. It is getting really dark pretty early now. And this man stops us right in front of our piso and starts talking to us and asking us if we were Mormons. I think he had some experiences that were not very good, so he has a problem with religion. He was acting crazy though and kept on asking if we were scared. He was getting pretty angry. I was prepared to do anything I had to. I had the worst feeling. I heard this grunt and I looked up and a man in our building was looking down at us. The man talking to us heard him and immediately stopped and walked away. I looked back up at the man and he waved at us. Right in that moment I felt so much peace and gratitude that he was there. I don't know what would have happened. The next day we saw him in the hallway. We thanked him and he said that he always thinks about us and our safety. He said that he knew the Elders that were living in our piso before. He said that if we needed anything that we can come and get him. He is a super nice older man. We are going to make him cookies this week. That night he was our guardian angel! I know Heavenly Father is watching over us and knows what we need when we need it.

Thanks for e mailing me Josephs letter. He sent me one too. He is so funny. It sounds like he's doing just fine. :) He is going to have a great time in the MTC. You are surrounded by the Spirit there. His experiences have already strengthened my testimony. I hope mine will do the same for him.

I had similar experiences in the MTC. My District really tried to be unified. My district leader tried to get to know everyone, he tried to make it so everyone was comfortable and happy. Having a close district makes a huge difference. I have really tried to apply that in all my districts. It helps a lot. I've made some really good friends through my districts. People I know I will probably stay in contact with for a long time. In the MTC the elders and sisters there would call me Humble Brumble. :) I had to learn a lot about humility there. Before I left I had this attitude about how I was going to help other people with everything and how they were all going to look up to me. I had to learn that before I could try to tell others what they needed, I needed to work on what I could improve myself, what I could learn from others, and being able to accept the fact that I needed help. It made a big difference for me. Now whenever I meet someone new or have a new companion, if I have a humble attitude and look for things I can learn from them, we have a lot more unity and love for each other which makes it so we can work more with the Spirit. I think that's why I haven't had companion troubles at all.

It is getting hard not to count down how much time I have left. I'm soo excited to see all of you, but at the same time I wish I was at the beginning again. I think I have reached a hard time in my mission. Realizing how much time you have left and feeling like you could have done more with the time you've had. It makes you feel terrible, but at the same time, it is helping me cherish the remaining time more and I'm working harder than I was before. The key is not to get discouraged because those feelings aren't from our Heavenly Father. I've worked so hard and I'm proud of what I've done so far. I can't wait for the experiences that I have ahead of me.

Thank you for everything! For your constant love and support. A lot of missionaries don't have the kind of support from families like I do. I am truly blessed and grateful for the wonderful family I have been given. You truly fill my life with love and strength to keep going. I love you and pray for you! Have a great week!

Hermana Brumble