#40

 So I had interviews with President yesterday and he was telling me what was going down with the mission. It was really sad when they announced it actually, we found out about 2 weeks ago but were told to keep it quiet. There will only be the Madrid and Barcelona missions in Spain now. So about 3 zones in the east side will become Barcelona and 4 zones in the West side will become Madrid. So the change takes place at the beginning of July when I will have two transfers left so wherever you are when the change happens that's what mission you will be apart of. Since I will only have a little bit left I will probably just stay in the area I will be in. The reason is because there used to be 88,000 missionaries and now there are only 68,000.  So right now there are 600 missionaries in Spain and they need to consolidate it until there are only 400. So in July like 27 elders go home and only 6 come in. This is why people need to go on missions!! But yeah. So when you come to pick me up you will either pick me up in Barcelona or Madrid. Haha and then we will have to travel South to visit my areas. By the way, I'm not sure what you have to do for picking me up but I know that everything has to be finalized about the entire trip in like may. When i finish one year in the mission I think they will tell me more. Just a heads up.

 So I still have about 2 weeks of training left and then I am probably off to get transferred! Not too sure yet. It is very normal for me to leave after this transfer. I got a huge Christmas package from the ward!! It was so nice I loved it! I also got the makeup package! That was the best present hahah I loved it so much thank you so much for the goodies. New makeup makes me so happy. And I loved the card as well. . I'm glad the fam has so much fun together. We better still do that when I get back to the states!

This week was a great one! Paco and Maria del Mar made us tortilla de patata. We had an awesome 2 lessons with Lourdes. The first lesson she was caught up with a lot of questions and it was just not a very productive lesson but then the next one all of her doubts just went away and she felt a lot calmer which was so good! We taught her the law of chastity and it actually was such a beautiful lesson. God's commandments make so much sense. 

Viviana and her daughter's finally read the Book of Mormon!! They want to be baptized! She just has to find a different job and she is working on it. Miracles

We taught a couple this week who are very very educated about the bible and they could not believe that Jesus went to the Americas. It came to the point where we couldn't try to give them anymore "proof" because really the Book of Mormon is the greatest evidence we have.  I am so grateful for the testimony I already have. Nothing, even as logical as it may seem, can shake my testimony of that book because I have read it and felt it change me.

We ate lunch with some lovely members this week. I love and love those members even more everyday. I adore them. Yesterday at church was one of the loveliest Sabbath days I have ever had. If you thought fast and testimony meetings were good in America, they are SO GOOD in Spain. I don't know if they do this in the states but here, the entire family will go up at the same time and they all stand there at the pulpit and gather there as each family member bears their testimony. And the same with the couples. I think it is the most tender thing in the world it's adorable. A lot of members bore testimonies about the mission work which is always music to my ears, it was such a power packed meeting and so calm and lovely. Yesterday morning was a bit stressful but as soon as I took the sacrament Matthew 11:28 ran through my mind. It's so real the rest He offers. I felt so much the rest I so desperately needed to feel. 

HAVE A GOOD WEEK LOVE YOU  THANK YOU FOR LOVING ME

#39 Originally sent Jan 29, 2018

Welp this week: 

We went to visit a cute recent convert Valentina!! She is adorable. She is 14 and her mom is away for work so we aren't allowed to meet with her in her house because shes too young so we decided to take her out to get a chocolate milk with her and give her a sweet lesson about how much Jesus loves her. It was so fun! 

We have been using whatsapp to connect with everyone and it has been so handy! We have been able to talk to so many more people just by shooting a text because nobody likes to answer their phones... ever. 

We had such a good lesson reading the Book of Mormon with Pilar. She understood it all! She is so ready to be baptized but just cant get work off on Sundays.. sigh. one day!

Our ward mission leader and His wife are literally the coolest people. I always look forward to Correlation. He just gets work done. It's so nice to have a good ward mission leader especially being in a country where you don't know the language or the culture. we seriously can call on him for anything and he helps us and it is soooo nice! It makes life so much less stressful. Also they live in our area so they invited us to pass by to eat some crepes and non alcoholic fancy drink things and it was lovely. And then we did a role play with them and they critiqued us and it was pure gold! I really appreciate those humans. 

We have been so busy this week and it has been so fun just running around from place to place. We went to see Lourdes!!! She is progressing sooo wellll!!! IT'S SO EXCITING. We have begun to teach her the commandments and she is accepting all of them. She has so much faith... ah she's just a little miracle girl! 

Our investigator gave us 8 Zucchinis... so we made zucchini bread... and then we ate it all... whoops.

Saturday we got 3 new investigators in a matter of hours. One guy just came up too us and asked us to teach him about the Book of Mormon; so we did. We invited him to church. He came... and then ran out after 10 minutes exclaiming that he was evangelist and got out of there. we awkwardly ran after him but it was to no avail. Just then we decided to call 77 year old Antonio because he wasn't in Sacrament. Turns out the poor guy was lost and had been lost for 2 hours wandering around in the cold. Ward mission leader came to the rescue and picked the poor old man up hahaha Antonio was so grateful.

We met in a cafeteria with two girls and taught them the first lesson and they ended buying us hot chocolate. That was cool.

We went and ate lunch with a wonderful woman! She has the cutest little house on a cliff over looking the ocean. Pics to come of that. We had the most interesting gospel discussion with her. Sometimes the people I meet really just amaze me, I'm telling ya. When I was with her at her house Ijust got the overwhelming thought of " wow I'm really in Spain right now. This is the coolest." I love when I get feelings like that  cause it's so true! I am thriving!!!!

Oh also something that was so wonderful is that thanks to Facebook I was able to connect with a young woman from my first area that was baptized just a week or two after I left the area and it was sooo happy for me!!!I was able to see that she and another young woman who I did personal progress with every Sunday got their medallions and holy cow I just love them so much and am sooo proud to see them doing good things. It was just one of the moments where I kinda saw the fruits of my labor!  It was so sweet :)

This week we have a pretty busy week scheduled already and its exiting!!!

 1. a gorgeous panaderia

 

 THE ALCAZABA

 i got myself a cat for my birthday... and maybe ringworm as well

  an awk foto of me looking into the sun @ the alcazaba

Views

 Cliff house over looking sea 

 old squad

the young woman i connected with on facebook :)))

#38 originally sent Jan.23, 2018

So this week was definitely one full of miracles. 

Sooo number 1. We had a bombing lesson with Lourdes. We went in wanting to teach the plan of salvation and left the cita having taught completely one hundred percent by the spirit. What a thrill. She accepted the fecha to be baptized and her only question was "can I bring my whole family?" Ah what a gem.

2. We ran into 6 important people at the bus station this week. People we hadn't been able to contact for a while or people who we have talked to before and weren't able to get there numbers. We were able to talk with all of them and get their numbers and set citas and it was a straight miracle. 

3. We tend to have trouble with the dang mailing systems here in Spain and we had Antonio's baptism record swimming around in the mail somewhere on the way to the Zone Leaders and after 2 weeks it got there! Miracles. 

4. We met with all of our investigators this week and had gold lessons. 

5. We had ZONE CONFERENCE yesterday and it was also gold. We got our smartphones so that we could do online pros. We also have access to WHATSAPP which is a miracle in itself because now people will answer their phones! Nobody just uses regular messaging systems here they use WHATSAPP. God is hastening His work in the best way. I'm so ready to see some miracles here. 

My mission has helped me be humbled and ready and willing to have my heart changed by Jesus Christ. Missions are something that everyone should hab e the opportunity to experience. Go on a mission! The Lord needs you! 

#37 originally sent Jan15

Hi ! I am reading right now all about Alma and Amulek and Ammon and all that good stuff. It is always so fun. I love yours and dads goals so much! that sounds like the best way to spend a Sunday afternoon. I do remember Brother Haderlie and Sister Canfield. I'm sure you did so much good . Keep doing good!! I actually did get your reference because President gave us permission to watch the funeral live. I loved the sweet talks. I loved hearing our soon to be prophet speak! ah such wonderful men. I loved Elder Hollands prayer. You could tell it was definitely guided by the spirit.

Yesterday we had 5 investigators at church!! It was beautiful and glorious! It was so stressful but our new mission leader and his wife are literally angels and helped so much. Go Hellen and Miguel. We also ate lunch with bishop and his fam this week they are just adorable. I adore them. Also Paco and Beatriz are just answered to prayers always. 

We have been seeing so much support from the members and it just makes me love them so much! 

We are teaching families! THAT IS SO HAPPY. 

Antonio is doing well. He still cries tears of happiness everytime he sees us. 

AH I DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO SAY! 

Hey maybe for my birthday you could send me some mascara? Its loreal  I bought mascara here and it makes my eyelashes fall out! And some eyebrow pomade from colourpop would be awesome! I sent some pictures of them. But if it's too expensive don't worry about it! 

LOVE YOU 

#36 A quick note of something I've learned.

Hi mom! I've had a lovely week this week. On Friday I came down with a bad cold but I think I'm getting better praise. I'll just share some things I've been thinking this week. Before my mission I don't think I took advantage of repentance. I think the number one thing I have learned on my mission is how to repent. It has been the most humbling experience to realize that I make so many mistakes and I need to get on my knees every night and plead forgiveness from my heavenly Father. And I might add that it is the most loving feeling I could ever experience. When I repent I feel so loved of my God because of the patience He has with me. Repentence is always a good thing because our Savior wants to give us the power to change the desires of our hearts it never has to be some thing we are embarrassed or scared to do.

Sorry I'm late and don't have much time But I love you! Also I became famous this week. Check the photos.  These posters are ALL OVER Almeria. All over. We are famous!

#35 Merry Christmas Happy Easter feliz cumpleaños - originally sent on 01/01/2018

Wow this week has been cray Cray but 4 words ANTONIO STILL GOT BAPTIZED. WAHOO. Seriously cray Cray. 

Last Monday we went ice skating. They have this seasonal little rink a dink ice skating rink that's really small and kinda expensive but hey.. when in Spain. When you fell you literally got soaked and looked like you just jumped in the Mediterranean sea. But it was fun. Merry Christmas. IT WAS SO GOOD TO SEE THE FAMILY! It felt like I had never left, so that's weird but still good. 

Tuesday we jumped back into it and got back to contacting the city and teaching Antonio all of the commandments. He hasn't drank coffee! He's clean for life.

Wednesday we kept teaching Antonio all of the commandments. He's still good. Antonio has a brain issue and he can't be left alone. He also lives in a pueblo about an hour away from the church in bus. He had his interview on Wednesday and someone had to get him there and accompany him... so hermana Boggess and I took it upon ourselves to do that. I've never been so stressed out in my entire life. He would just walk into the middle of the road poor guy. So stressful. But we got him to the interview and in the middle of it he said that he forgot to turn off his stove and that his house was on fire and he called a taxi and got out of there... more stress. We called him and turns out his house is okay it was just filled with smoke hahahaha poor Antonio. 

Thursday was such a day of miracles! We have an investigator who has been bringing her two daughters to the lessons with us and they are all so sweet.. They just never ever talk. Ever. It's a little difficult. The good thing is that they keep letting with us though. We weren't sure what to do with them so we decided that we were finally gonna invite ourselves to there house and bring some sugar cookies, frosting, and sprinkles to see if the girls wanted to decorate the cookies with us. THE GIRLS TALKED. THE MOM TALKED. PEOPLE ACTUALLY SPOKE WORDS. miracles. The 13 year old daughter started asking a lot of questions about baptism and the book of Mormon and that was just a miracle. We talked about the record when Christ comes to minister to the Nephites and invited them to read it as a family and then come to the baptism with us for Antonio, the girls came! 

Also for miracle Thursday we were teaching Pilar who is solid she just can't come to church because she works which is such a pena. But she shared her testimony with us that she has gotten answers to her prayers and it was so beautiful. We recommited her to a fecha with the commitment to work really hard so that she can come to church. We are all putting our faith into action here and hoping for more miracles. 

Some fishy things happened Saturday morning with the baptism but no pasa nada it happened! It was sweet! He was crying the entire time and when he got confirmed as well!

All I want to say is that God really does hear us and wants to answer us and He does! I know He does. Sometimes we have to look and search for the answer but it is there! 

Os quiero 

Hermana Rust 

1.celebrated 9 months 😅

2.christmas dinner

3. Squad

4. Antonio! 

5. This picture has been killing me all week long. My district loves it.  Happy birthday shout out to this cutie! 

20171221_215538.jpg

#34 Canton Santos Angeles ...Originally sent 12/18/2017

This week was the weekiest weeks of weeks it was just too cray cray. I'll try to let you all in on what happened. Because man I just thought it was a righteous blast.

We had the super great opportunity to prestar some service for our intpvestigators this week. We made some lil decorations and decorated their door. We were just about to go and attack their door with Christmas cheer but they were outside so we RAN like we had never run before. It was humorous, really. But they got our cute notes and really loved it. 

We met with Viviana and she finally brought her daughters so we are officially almost teaching a whole family!  Ahhh answers to prayers. We had a whole  bunch of cool opportunities to share the Illuminate the World Christmas video and that's just been the best. It makes finding so much easier and so much more fun. Also some member invited us over to have a family home evening and they invited some Nonmember friends and it was so fun! That is definitely answered to prayers right there.

So Wednesday night we and our other 2 hermana friends packed our bags and went a couple hours north on a bus to Granada to stay the night with the Hermanas there. We watched the Christmas devotional on the way and it was just a lovely Christmas celebration. So we got to Granada and there were 6 of us Hermanas. Basically a small army so we had 30 minutes to divide and conquer and we all just went and contacted in the beautiful streets of Granada. We found a girl from Washington DC and it was probably the hardest thing I've ever had to do to contact in English. It was so weird and exhilarating. And then we caroled to the passbyers. It was sweet. 

So we all spent the night there on Wednesday and got up at 5:30 the next morning to get on a bus to Murcia for the Christmas zone conference. And jolin, that was an amount of fun I was not expecting. One whole half of the mission was there so it was rad to see my missionary friends. We started with a talent show that was just loco. Some people did real talents and they were bomb but mostly people just did weird but absolutely hilarious skit type deals. I can't even explain it. I don't know about you guys but missionaries are FUNNY. My district did a little skit. People laughed. it was funny. But anywho, and then we all went to Murcia central and sang Christmas hymns as a whole group. Can't get enough of the Christmas caroling. President and Hermana Anderson spoke to us. President talked about ALWAYS testifying of Christ and if we did, we would be filled with the spirit of Christ this Christmas. The best part of being a missionary is that we have so many opportunities to testify of Him, and through doing so, my love for Christ has grown so much. And then we all sang our Mission hymn (which Elder Holland named as the favorite mission hymn he has ever heard😎). There is something so completely satisfying and magical about gathering in a circle as a mission and singing and swaying to O Vos Los Llamados. Also I got blamed for singing the verses in the wrong order and steering the entire mission astray but I blame it on you mom 😉  and then we  ate paella. 

And then we had a 3 hour bus ride back to Granada and literally for 3 hours my Hermanas and some other elders sang hymns the entire way. And these elders were not just messing around, we had 4 part harmony going on their. It was beautiful and a lot of fun. I just love all of the singing we have done this week. 

And then one of my favorite parts of this week was something as simple as this: we made it back to Granada and we had to spend the night their again. Right before bed Hermana Hargis showed us the bible video of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Oh my goodness. I don't know why I had never watched it before but it has changed my life. It's one of my favorite bible stories because to me it shows best the character of Christ. He had so much faith in His father that he would be able to perform miracles, and He did. He knew he could and was going to raise Lazurus from the dead, yet he still wept, and mourned with Mary and Martha who were mourning. The way He consoled them in their sadness made me feel so much love for my savior because I know he continues to offer that same soccoro to me. I dont know how to say that in English, succor?

 

For everyone who reads this email, could you maybe do me a Christmas favor and send me your simple and beautiful testimonies of Jesus Christ? I love hearing people bear witness of His name. I have some ideas stirring around inside of my head. 

I'll start: Jesus Christ is the Son of God. It is only by Him and the mercy He offers that I can be with my Father again. I know He loves me because He has given me His grace to overcome when I didn't have my own strength to do so. He is my Healer and I love Him. I know He lives and because He lives I am so excited to see Him in the flesh and just give Him the biggest hug. I feel honored to be His representative. 

Merry Christmas from Almería! 

Love, Hermana Rust 

For having such a great week I didn't not take enough photos.here are some random gems 

1. Caroling with the hermanas in Granada 

2. Our small army

3. Decoratin' doors

4.thats a lot of Paella.

 5. Blurry selfies 

6. I'm just throwing it back to the Bako and Hermana Rust squad days. So righteously fierce.