November 25, 2013 From Maddie, her last week in Sevilla….. Hello dearest family of mine! How´s everyone doing?! I loved your stories Mom about making pies with Hina! It´s wonderful that you´re explaining our beliefs to her! I´m not saying she will or won´t be baptized one day...that´s not up to me, but if there´s anything I learned on a mission is that some people need more time to soak it all in and some accept it and go straight to the font, so keep on keepin on with her. She was brought into your life for a reason, now ¨go and do.¨ :) I also can´t believe it´s already Thanksgiving. I completely forgot about it until this past weekend cause members were talking to me about Thanksgiving and what we do in America for it or other missionaries know American families and had a Thanksgiving dinner. Obviously Thanksgiving is an American tradition and isn´t something they do here, so I hope y´all enjoy it and enjoy being together as a family. Being on a mission and seeing the problems families have when they don´t live or have the gospel it´s made me a heck of a lot more grateful for a family that´s strong in the gospel. I also did receive my package mom of warm clothes. THANKS SOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH! I had to convert how cold it is from Celsius to Fahrenheit and it´s only 46 degrees. But for some reason it feels like 20. It´s SO stinkin cold-especially at night, in the wind. IN A SKIRT. I opened the box and I got hit with a wall of perfume. OH MAN. I haven´t wanted to wash my clothes cause they smell like home! The charcoal shirt smelled the most like home and that night when I went to bed I put my shirt half over my face and fell asleep cause it just smelled so good!!! But the hoodies have helped with the cold this week ¡que frio hace! no me gusta para nada el frio, and what luck I have cause I´m getting transferred from Sevilla to a town three hours NORTH. It´s a town called Badajoz (for you non-Spanish speakers it´s pronounced Bah-da-hoth -that´s with the SPAINish flair to it) Yep, Badajoz with Hermana Rawle. She´s a cute little ginger Hermana who´s 19 years old and has about 3 months in the mission. She´s in the same group as Hermana Guerrero. We´re gonna speak completely in Spanish so I don´t lose what I´ve done and so she can get better, cause if she´s like I was at 3 months....she´s got some work to do. haha! I´ve gotten pretty confident in my Spanish. A lot of people have told me it´s almost perfect. Obviously there´s a lot of things I CAN´T do but I think besides my Texan American accent it´s pretty good. Yep. I still talk like a gringa. I wanna pick up the accent here in Sevilla but it won´t happen this transfer. There´s two zones in Sevilla, I´m in Sevilla 2. Badajoz is in the other Sevilla Zone, so when we have zone conferences we come to Sevilla! Badajoz is right by the Portugal border and some of the members of the branch live in Portugal and sometimes missionaries in Badajoz go to Portugal for pday! I´ve also heard there´s lots of castles in Badajoz and I´ve heard it´s just an overall really cool city. Oh yeah. I´ve served in the two of the biggest cities in the mission with two big wards- and now I´m going to a branch. I´m PUMPED! The District Leader is a TRUE Tex-Mex. He´s half and half so I´m excited to meet him. I´m also nervous but I´m more excited cause I´ll grow A LOT. Hermana Guerrero is staying here and taking over our area. Her new companion has the same amount of the time in the mission as her, so she´s terrified! haha poor kid. After her interview with the President, she walked out with HUGE eyes and was like, ¨oh hermana.....no puedo!¨ hahahaha! It´ll be good experience for her though. She´s a hoot and we´ve had a lot of fun together so I´ll miss her when I leave. But yep, I´ll be in Badajoz for Christmas, New Years and the Spanish Holiday...Three Kings which is on January 5. It´s like how American´s believe in Santa Claus (Papa Noel) and how he brings presents to kids? Well they celebrate the Three Kings here from the Nativity Story, same idea just different person and different day. So basically I´ll have two Christmases. My interview with the President was REALLY good this last week. He sat me down and said, ¨Hermana Muse, I just gotta tell ya, I really like serving with you!¨ He has A LOT more faith and trust in me than I think I really deserve, but he told me that he wants me to sit down with the Branch President there in Badajoz and make a Ward Mission Plan, he also told me a few things I needed to pay special attention to with Hermana Rawle, but overall it was really good. He gave the prayer and the spirit was SO strong. He prayed a lot for y´all, so I hope y´all have the blessings you need :) With getting transferred I have a few things to send home. Dad put some money in my account by I think maybe it should be fine. The money he put in my account was to pay for a coat from Hna.Guerrero, but last pday I got the package from mom and I used the money in the package to buy a new cheaper coat that´s just the same. So I´ll just use that money. My camera is NORMAL! It´s seriously a miracle. I have no idea how or why, but it´s all normal now. No water damage or anything. The screen is normal, the pictures are normal and it´s been SAVED! Hallelujah! I think that´s all the things I needed to tell y´all....yesterday was my last Sunday in Sevilla and it was so sad! I didn´t reallize how much I loved the members until yesterday. Hermana Guerrero pulled a leg muscle Saturday and couldn´t walk, so that evening we were at home, so I spent the evening writing letters to people, Ericka and a few other people who have really helped us out a lot. I was crying writing Ericka´s letter. We call her every other day and she´s still taking care of her boss and she´s reading the scriptures and everything! I wrote her a letter, threw in a necklace that mom sent me, a Liahona and three church dvds. We have in a little baggy of goodies for her and whenever she comes back Hermana Guerrero is gonna give it to her. Transfers are always fun, but leaving is SO hard. I didn´t cry when I went in the MTC but whenever I´ve said goodbye to people here I´ve cried and- not to be dramatic- it feels like my heart is breaking a little at a time cause I know I won´t see a lot of these people- if any, again. One of the downfalls of serving international. But it is what it is. I´m kind of dreading our cita tomorrow with Marisol, the lady we work with trying to help her go to the temple- cause it´ll be sad saying goodbye. There wasn´t a lot that happened this week to be honest. The longer I have in the mission the more the weeks are the same. How lame. But things are going well, I´m doing good and happier than ever. I love the gospel of Jesus Christ and I´m grateful for the chance I have to share the gospel with people, It´s been the best thing EVER! I love my Savior and I know God has a plan for us. Sometimes I don´t understand what He does or why He does it...but all I can do is smile about it and do it. I know He is aware of me and each one of you and our particular needs and desires. As I´ve studied the Book of Mormon this week I´ve seen the ways the gospel touches even the hardest of people. Like Alma and the Sons of Mosiah. I read in Alma 36 this weekend where it talks about Alma is telling Helaman about his repentance process and the Atonement is so powerful. I´m grateful for the Atonement and the sacrifice that was made by our elder brother, and personal Savior, Jesus Christ. I know God lives and loves us and more than anything I know this church is true. I love you all and have a WONDERFUL week! Hermana Muse
Posted on: Mon, 25 Nov 2013 13:26:05 +0000
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