September 5th-September 11th 2916--Cumplemes miracles!

I love being a missionary. :)

Ahhhh this week was such a good one. Buckle up because this will probably be a long one. Here's what happened:

Last Monday Hermana Gibson, Hermana Højholdt and I went and ate at a Mexican restaurant we have been passing a lot. It was pretty good and nice to just relax like normal people for a bit.

After lunch we went and met up with two sets of elders and a set of hermanas and went to St. Mary's Basilica in Elche. We climbed to the top and this was the view. :)

Trio life is still great, don't worry! Hermana Gibson and Hermana Højholdt. 

All of the missionaries in Elche and Elda (a town nearby)

After pday ended we set up a cita with Sergio but we ended up meeting him at his grandma's house instead of in a park by his house. Well, we couldn't go into his house because there wasn't another woman there. So we had a lesson in the stairwell and it got pretty hot. But that was fun. 

Last pday Dad wrote me and said how he went out for Chinese food and I emailed back and said how that sounded really good. Well, the member we ate with on Tuesday didn't have time to cook so she just got Chinese take out to eat. Prayers get answered. Hahaha.

On Wednesday I encountered the first real verbal opposition from a stranger. While we were passing by for a future at their house and ringing their buzzer, a lady passed and started yelling at us. She asked us what our parents taught us and if we had any shame for going around preaching the Gospel. President, that lit a fire in me and I realized what my sweet, dedicated parents have taught me! They have taught me to share the Gospel! I don't have shame because sharing the gospel doesn't have any shame in it! I thought about how proud Dad is in the emails he writes me and how proud my Mom is to be walking here in Spain with me. For the rest of this week I have been gleeful to share this Gospel! I have been proud to declare the Lord's words and share what my parents taught me. Even though the opposition I faced was nothing compared to that of Joseph Smith's trials of opposition, I have been thinking a lot about his sacrifices for the bringing forth of the Gospel. There is opposition in all things!

So, once again, God showed me that He has a plan for all of His children and how H's uses missionaries as tools to help His children. Every night we have to be in our apartment at 10:15 unless we are teaching a lesson (then it's 10:45). On Thursday night we were far away from our apartment and we were contacting. We were walking down the street when I felt the impression I needed to turn around. I'm getting better at listening the promptings of the Spirit so I turned around to find an older guy looking at me. He stopped us and said he took the discussions a long time ago. He is a Catholic person and we talked to him for a while. I glanced at my watch and it was 10:10 and we were about 15 minutes away from home. We wrapped up the conversation and took of speed walking, not talking to anyone. There was a 20 year old looking guy that kept looking at us and was pretty obviously (or so I thought) checking us out. That's not a weird things since we're here blondes in Spain so we kept walking. We mumbled hola to him and passed him. He stopped us (oh great, a guy who wants to talk to us at 10 at night on an abandoned street!) and asked us if we were Mormon missionaries. We said of course! Get this--his name is Elbert and he's a 23 year old Brazillian guy who GOT BAPTIZED 7 years ago in Brazil. He moved to Spain a year ago and couldn't find the church here. He's been inactive for about 4 years. We got his number and we set up a cita and invited him to come to church with us! Also, upon finding out he was from Brazil, I excitedly told him that Addie is serving in Cuiaba and he has family there! And that Michael served in Brazil. :) If I wouldn't have followed to spirit and turned around, we wouldn't have talked to the old guy who talked our ear off and made us late we wouldn't have run into Elbert and he wouldn't have known there was a ward in Elche! Miracles. 

On Friday we had district meeting I had a taller about diligence and I talked about "greenie Fire" (new missionaries who are so excited to teach the Gospel) and how all missionaries should have that greenie Fire. On Friday night we finally taught Eddy. We lost contact with him for awhile since he's been busy with work. We talked about repentance and the Atonement and the spirit was so strong in that lesson. It was what Eddy needed to hear and when we asked him if he had any questions he fell silent and said, "no, it is all so simple!" That was the first lesson we, as our trio, felt really unified.

Saturday was SUCH A GOOD DAY. Saturday was the 10th and so that means it was my cumplemes! (Cumple=celebrate and mes=month) I've officially been in Spain for 4 months! We started the day off by running (yes, running) to the bridge that separates our area from Elder Pesce and Elder Stark's area. We met them, shook hands and then ran back. :) hahaha. They called us later and said they thought of us every flight of stairs they went up because they were so sore. Haha.

Because it was my fourth cumplemes, we saw four big miracles!

#1 we were on our way to an appointment and for some reason (that some reason being the Spirit) I took a different route than usual. As soon as we turned down that different street, a guy looked up and said hey! Sissters! You are missionaries! It turns out he took the lessons for a whole and almost got baptized. He said he wants us to teach him again! 

#2 We spent some time calling people and when we were about to out the phone away I thought about a less active who I haven't seen in a while and he picked up and we set up a cita!

#3 We had set up a cita with an old investigator with an 80 year old man who lives alone. We had the lesson, he got distracted a lot but when we mentioned church and invited him HE SAID YES!

#4 We met with Elbert, the Brazilian and got to know him. Addie, my friend serving in Brazil has told me a lot that Brazilians are the nicest people and now I really understand! I think I smiled the whole lesson because he was just so nice and sincere! We talked about reading the scriptures, going to church and praying. And we set up for him to come to church with us!

And to top off that wonderful day of miracles, we had ice cream and celebrated my cumplemes by sitting around with my two incredible companions and talking about our miracles we've seen.

Church was wonderful and Vicente (the 80 year old) and Elbert AND two less actives who never come CAME! It was such a happy day!

To end my email I want to testify of 4 things.

1. God is our loving Heavenly Father and He has a plan for each one of us. 

2. The Atonement brings healing, power, joy and hope.

3. The Book of Mormon is the truest book on this earth and it truly contains the fullness of the Gospel of Christ.

4. Families can, AND WILL BE, eternal.

I love you all!

Me encanta mi misión. 

Love, Hermana Moore