MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Merry Christmas my dear family and friends! 

I can´t believe it is already Christmas!!! I hope you are all enjoying the wonderful snow in Utah! No snow here in Tarragona! This week we were in Barcelona almost ALL week... again. I am learning though to really take advantage of every moment and remember to be a missionary at all times even if I am not in my assigned area. We had our christmas zone conference on Tuesday which was INCREDIBLE!! I am trying to study love and charity more which was perfect because that is exactly what President and Sister Dayton talked about in our conference together. They taught us how to love more like our Savior, especially at Christmas time! We talked a lot about the Atonement and how there were three different parts to it... the suffereing in the Garden, When He died on the cross and when He was resurrected. President told us to make sure to teach our investigators about the three different parts to it to make sure they can really have a testimony of this wonderful gift that we have. As He talked about the Atonement I was reminded of a time when I was babysitting the kiddos while mom and dad were on a date at the temple. I was putting them all to bed and we were reading scriptures on Livvy, Liza and Abby´s bed. It was such a sweet experience as we read from the Book of Mormon about the Atonement and the littles and I talked about the three different parts of the Atonement. Afterwards they all bore their testimonies (while Abby sat on my lap) about Jesus Christ. It was such a special moment in time for me to see my little siblings bear their testimonies about their Savior and the Atonement that we have because of Him. As I reflected on this experience in Zone conference I realized that I need to teach my investigators just as I taught Joey, Livvy, Liza and Abby that night. I need to teach them as I would teach little children. I need to help them to fully grasp the concept of the Atonement and then help them to understand it well enough to bear their humble testimonies. I know that this is the way that the savior taught... and He did it out of LOVE. How grateful I am for His example that we have to look up to especially as missionaries and especially at Christmas time. 

On Wednesday morning we had to be back in Barcelona again to get my DNI. So we talked to president after zone conference and asked him what to do so we didn´t waste time or money and he said, "you know what? We would love to have you stay with us in the mission home tonight". So Hermana Carollo and I had christmas come a little early this year as we spent Tuesday night with the Dayton´s helping them get all ready for other zone conferences and sitting by the Christmas tree to talk. As we shared experiences and testimonies the spirit was so strong. It was a night that I will never forget. I love the Dayton´s with all of my heart! They are helping me to learn and grow so much everyday. Their examples mean the world to me and I feel so blessed to have them leading and guiding my mission! 

We stayed in Barcelona another night as we did an intercambio with our Sister training leader, Hermana Mayes, and then another night because we had to go back to the DNI office the next day! BUT we FINALLY made it back to Tarragona and I can´t wait to work hard here in my area! 

Our friend from our ward, Vera (who is from Brazil and can´t speak Spanish) brought a friend to the church and called us and said, "come to the church! I have my friend here and she lives in your area and she wants to learn about the church. I think she will get baptized!" Hombre, did we run! We were so excited! We taught Diana the first lesson and challenged her to be baptized and she was so excited! Then the next lesson she brought her 10 year old daughter and now they will both be baptized on the same day! I am so excited for them! (they are going to France for the holidays though so I will update you on them after Christmas). The point to this story though is... MEMBERS ARE KEY!!!! Go out and invite your friends to hear about the church! We have such a special message to share and you can all help to share it! 

I got to see all of my members in Barcelona again this week which was incredible! I miss them all so much! They truly have changed my life and are like my family. I loved when they would come running up to me and give me huge hugs and tell me how happy they were to see me! Not only had I left a tiny handprint in their lives, but they had left an even bigger one in mine. As I reflected on these people and the love that I have for them I was truly reminded of how much love our Heavenly Father and Savior have for each of us. These people here on my mission are changing my life and it is so hard for me to leave them when I get transferred. But the most important person who has made the biggest impact in my life is my Savior Jesus Christ. He is the reason I am here. He is the reason I can meet all of these incredible people and serve a mission in Spain. 

I know that because of our Savior Jesus Christ we truly can be saved. He is the only way. As we are approaching Christmas in just a few short days, I would challenge us all to think more about our Savior Jesus Christ and everything He has done for us. And then think of something that you can give to Him because He has given us the greatest gifts that we could possibly imagine. I know He lives and loves each one of us. What better place to be at Christmas time than here in Spain teaching the people about this very very special gift. He is my Savior and Redeemer and my best friend. Through Him all things are possible. I know this is true! And I say these things in His name, Jesus Christ, Amen. 

Merry Christmas to Everyone! 

I love you! 

Love, 

Hermana Eyring

Staying in Barcelona in my old piso - hoooray!

GIngerbread creations made of cardboard

Can't wait to open our Christmas jammies

Christmas Zone Conference

Teaching Diana our new investigator!

I LOVE my Christmas Tree! Thanks everyone!!!

Zone Conference lunch with the Daytons

  

Our Christmas lunch

Cutting out Christmas trees for the primary

What a special Christmas treat - a night at the mission home with the
Daytons and the Morejons.

Intercambio with Hermana Mayes

Visiting the Barcelona YSA Ward

Our Gingerbread House

The Morejons came for lunch to our piso - I made taco soup

"What was your happy moment?"

Dearest family and friends, 

TIS THE SEASON! I can´t believe Christmas is right around the corner! I am so grateful to be here in Spain as a missionary at this Christmas season. I know it is the best thing I could possibly be doing right now! And what better way to spend Christmas than going out everyday to teach the people about our Savior, Jesus Christ. For me, Christmas has already started coming! I want to share a few of my "presents" that I received this week! My title for my email comes from one of my companions, Hermana Larsen. Every night she would ask me, "What was your happy moment?" And I would have to think of what happened that day and what the happiest moment was. Her mom did it to her every night growing up and now she does it to all her companions and now I do it to all of mine! So this week I want to share the "presents" I have been receiving for christmas and they just so happen to be all of my "happy moments"!  

The first one is my companion! I am training a brand new missionary this transfer which is a little scary and a little stressful but also really fun! I went to the training meeting last week and then picked up my new companion... HERMANA CAROLLO. She is from Colorado but her mom is from Mexico and her dad served in Mexico so her Spanish is really quite incredible (even though she doesn´t think so... trust me... it is). It is such a blessing that we were put together as companions so that we can both learn from each other and become better missionaries and disciples of Jesus Christ. I have already learned so much from her in this short time we have been together. I know that companions are inspired and direct revelation from our Heavenly Father and we are placed in specific companionships to help us learn and grow and become who we are meant to be. 

Another present was Vera. Vera is from Brazil and has a health challenge with her legs making it very hard to walk. But she wanted to come out contacting with us one day! So we took her and before we started she pulled out her phone and said, "now here... hurry and write down all of these numbers. These are all of my friends who I just know need to hear about the gospel!" She sat and gave us references for about 30 minutes and then started setting up citas (or appointments) with all of them for us. She is the absolute sweetest and never forgets that she is always a missionary. We then went and contacted with her and even though we only were able to walk down one street in about an hour, we talked to every person we could about the gospel and we ended up receiving 4 new investigators as we taught them a lesson on the street, got their information, set up another cita and prayed with them! Each one of them was a miracle and I truly believe it was Hermana Vera and her faith, smile and diligence. Vera taught me that it doesn´t matter what health challenge you have or how much pain you might be in... you just need to smile and remember that you are always a missionary! 

Our District is doing pretty well here in Tarragona as we had three more baptisms on Saturday! The Elders from Tortosa are working really hard and all of their hard work is paying off because the "group" that only had 17 people to start out with 4 weeks ago now has 34 and it is now going to be officially turned into a Branch! That was a very big Christmas present for all of us to hear! 

On Sunday I gave a talk in church! My first talk in sacrament meeting, in Spain... IN SPANISH! I think it is safe to say that I was just a tiny bit nervous (ok, I was really nervous). I talked about perseverar hasta el fin (endure to the end) 5 simple steps that we can do to perseverar hasta el fin. I was sitting up on the stand to play the piano for the sacrament meeting and in walked Yolanda and Christian with their three little girls. I can´t remember if I have talked about them yet or not. Yolanda and Christian just got baptized this year and haven´t been coming to church very often. They have their three little girls, Marina (8), Daniella (6), and Africa (3). They remind me SO much of Livvy and Liza and Abby. They are the three little girls who honestly think that I am Elsa from Frozen. it is so cute! They saw me playing the piano and their mouths all DROPPED. They told me they didn´t know Elsa knew how to play the piano haha :) Anyways, this was definitely one of my happy moments to see all of them in church and sitting on the front row! And in Sunday School Christian talked all about how he needs to help his family Endure to the End and then Yolanda told me she wants us to help them prepare Marina to be baptized since she is 8 years old! It was definitely a miracle right from Heaven! I am excited to help them continue to progress! 

We had a lesson with Barbara this week! Barbara is 74 and probably one of my best friends here in Spain! She lost her husband about 3 months ago and we found her as we were knocking doors one day. She was practically in tears when we found her but smiling said, "How did you angels know to come visit Barbara today? Did God send you here to my door?" We testified to her that He knows exactly who she is and what she is going through. She loves every single thing we teach her and LOVED the restoration and told us she knew it was all true. She came to church and talked to pretty much every single member and then told us afterwards that she knew it was true. Hermana Carollo and I went to teach her the plan of salvation this past week. We told her it was a present for her and Manuel (her husband). When we got to the spirit world I started crying and couldn´t even talk. The spirit in the room was so strong and I knew that what we were teaching Barbara was true. I knew that Manuel was in the Spirit world at this very moment listening to and accepting the same message that Barbara was listening to. I told Barbara this and tears came to her eyes and she looked at me and said, "Puedo dar un besito a Manuel ahora?" (can I give Manuel a little kiss right now?) I nodded my head and she blew a kiss to the air and said, "I want to be with you forever my sweet Manuel". It was probably one of the most spiritual experiences I have yet had on my mission. When we ended our lesson by sharing with her about the celestial kingdom and how she CAN be with Manuel forever she said, "I don´t have to wait for christmas. You sweet hijas are my christmas present and your message is the best christmas present I could ever ask for. I know it is true! I know with my whole heart it is true!" I loved that lesson with Barbara so much! And she was right. That time with her was probably my favorite christmas present of all! I know that Barbara can be with her sweet Manual for all eternity just like we can all be with our families for eternity if we choose right now to follow the example of Our Savior Jesus Christ. He is the only way that we can make it safely home to our Father in Heaven and everyone we love. I know they love us and they want us to return home to them, but it is up to us to turn to our Savior and use the gift of the Atonement every single day to draw closer to Him. I know that families are forever and I can´t wait to be with mine forever one day! 

Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season! 

I love being a missionary!! 

Love, 

Hermana Eyring

Drum roll...and Hermana Eyring will be
training Hermana Carollo!

Hermana Carollo is from Colorada

We will be serving together in Tarragona

Getting to know Tarragona

Ward Christmas Party

Wrapping up Christmas treats

Some of my favorite hermanas

Teaching the gospel

Introducing Hermana Carollo to the yummy pastries
in Tarragona

My cute little buddies

Yummy ward Christmas dinner

My Chilean friend Sara

Our view out the window on our way home to Tarragona

Mission friends

My dear friend Barbara

Great friends already!

The mission is preparation for life :)

Dear family and friends, 

I have about 30 seconds to write so I am going to make this a super quick email (impossible for Hermana Eyring... we will see how this goes) 

This week was incredible! I learned so so much! But mostly I learned that the mission truly does prepare you for life! I know that Heavenly Father has a perfect plan for every one of us and that the experiences we are passing through now will only help us to learn and grow and become who He truly needs us to be! 

John and Pintsil (our investigators from Nigeria) got baptized this past Saturday!!!!! They look really angry in the pictures but I think that is just their culture because they showed up to the church 4 hours early because they were SO excited for their baptism! Everything went perfectly and the members helped SO much!! I am so happy for both of them and they both asked us after the baptism, "so now what is next? The temple?" I love them both!! 

We had transfer calls on Saturday night!!!! I found out that I will be training! I have only been in Tarragona for 4 weeks so I don´t really know what I am doing, but I am really really excited (and nervous too). It will be a fun adventure :) Wish me luck! Hermana McWhorter is going to Zaragoza to be a sister training leader and will finish her mission there in two transfers! I am so happy for her! I will find out tomorrow who my new companion is after the training meeting!! I will send pictures and a quick email tomorrow!

I know that Heavenly Father loves us and has the best plan in store for us if we will just trust in Him and have faith that everything will be for our good! 

I love you all! Have a great week!! 

Love, 

Hermana Eyring 

Family Home Evening with sisters from the Relief Society

Our Thanksgiving Cornucopia - in honor of mom

It's Christmastime on the streets of Tarragona

I love this city!

Sinterklaas came and filled our shoes

A visit to the hospital in Barcelona - out to lunch with Melany

John and Pintsil were baptized! :)

We love Alicia and Sara!

The Fruits of our Labors

Hello family and friends! 

I am not exactly sure how it is already Monday again! The time on the mission is probably one of the strangest things I have ever experienced! I love my mission so so much and never ever want it to end!! This week was a week of many lessons! I want to share with you the main lessons I learned along with stories that relate to each point. I hope that you can each think about these lessons and really try to apply them in your own lives as well! 

1. Member missionary work is the most effective way to do The Lord´s work! 

Last week we had a Noche de Hogar (family home evening) with one of our investigators from Nigeria, Steven. I think I have told you all about him before but a quick re-cap... he has been here for a few months and is studying at a university and researching robotics. He is really smart and loves to learn. He contacted us on the street one day because he wants religion in his life and he wants to learn Spanish (right now he only speaks English). We decided to have this NDH with him and a family in the ward... Los Campos. They are so sweet and have a 12 year old daughter, Marta, who speaks English really well. What we didn´t realize though was that the parents don't speak ANY english. So we were a little nervous as to how this would go. But to our surprise it turned out even better than we had hoped. We taught the lesson about the Book of Mormon in Spanish and English at the same time and everyone loved it. Then we played games and had alimentos (kind of like dinner but more like light snacks because they don´t have dinner here in Spain). It was absolutely perfect!! The best part was when we were all driving home together and we dropped Steven off and we watched him SKIP all the way back to the university with a grin on his face from ear to ear! It was incredible! Also Los Campos offered to pick Steven up every Sunday for church so he doesn´t have to take the bus! I LOVE THE MEMBERS! We all have such a critical role in this Missionary work. We don´t need to wait for the missionaries to tell us what to do as members. We need to go to the missionaries and tell them what they can be doing to help us! I challenge all of you to reach out to your friends and share the gospel with them and then get the missionaries involved :) (I promise they will love you forever!) oh also.. while we had NDH the lights went out 3 times while we were eating pizza! It was pitch black and we were eating in the dark! I laughed pretty hard at that one!

2. Follow the Spirit in EVERY circumstance. NEVER postpone a prompting! 

We went to go help our investigator Alejandra one night because she is getting REALLY close to being baptized (although awkward moment when we found out last night that she lives in the Elders area and we had to give her over to them. We had a good cry about that one, but I know we are placed in areas for a reason and Alejandra will be baptized regardless of who it is that teaches her because in the end it is the Spirit... not the missionaries. We are merely the instruments that Heavenly Father uses to help the investigators feel the spirit). Anyways, we were supposed to have a lesson with her last week so we went over to her house with brownies and a cute note for her but nobody answered the door. We knocked and waited, waited and knocked. Then we said a prayer and knocked one more time. We left her building and started walking away. All the sudden we both turned to each other and said, "we need to go back". So we followed the prompting and went back to her building. Guess what happened?! Absolutely... nothing. We were a little concerned at the fact that the spirit had led us astray but we knew that couldn´t be right. We left the brownies and the note on her door and then left again. Right when we left her building we found her walking home on the street! She was so excited to see us and came running to give us both a huge hug!! She had forgotten all about the lesson and her phone was dead. We went upstairs with her but at that point we were late to another visit so we decided to take her with us because it was to a member visit. She agreed (for the first time ever she agreed to come to a NDH). We were SO excited! And at the NDH the members invited her to lots of different activities and to church and to do a special dance for the JAS (YSA´s). It was probably one of the most perfect moments! NEVER POSTPONE A PROMPTING! Miracles will always come from following them! 

Following the same point. We went to one of our pueblos this week in Reus. One of our members, Sara, really wanted to help us because it was her day off of work. So she spent the whole day with us but all of our plans fell through. But we ended up seeing miracle after miracle after miracle solely because we decided to follow the promptings of the spirit. We found Camila, Aneudy, Julia, and Fall! (also we had a prompting to put a french BOM in our bag so we did and then we found Fall and he spoke French! MIRACLE!). Also both of us forgot our agendas and tarjetas that day!!!!! Any of you who have been on a mission know that you don´t leave the house without your agenda and tarjeta. I felt so much like I wasn´t a missionary. But then Heavenly Father truly taught us that as long as we follow the spirit we don´t need anything but our smiles and testimonies and we can still see miracles and bring His children closer to their Savior. We also found a menos activo family standing at their door that night! We ended up being able to go in and have a NDH with them! They have 3 little girls... Marina, Daniella, and Africa (8,6,3). Pretty much they remind me exactly of Livvy, Liza and Abby! And they couldn´t stop climbing all over us and playing with our hair! They now call us Hermana Elsa and Hermana Ana because they think we look like them. We have them CONVINCED that we really are them! :) Anyways... the point of this lesson is to just follow the spirit no matter how crazy the prompting might seem and you will always be blessed! 

3. Language doesn´t matter! 

We had an incredible lesson this past week with another investigator from Nigeria, Pintsil. We brought a member with us, Encarna, thinking that Pintsil could speak Spanish. Well... he sort of can but not really. haha so we ended up teaching the lesson in English and I kept leaning over to Encarna to apologize but she just kept saying, "no se preocupe" (don´t worry about it) and she would try to listen and would still chip in and bear her testimony in Spanish whenever she felt the spirit! It was such a neat lesson and in the end we gave him a fecha for December 5th!!!! Which happens to be this Saturday! John and Pinstil will both be baptized this saturday and I cannot wait! The point is though that the language doesn´t matter! Even when we can´t completely communicate exactly what we want to say, the Spirit CAN and the Lord will work through us and the Spirit to help people understand what He needs them to. All we have to do is open our mouths! 

(PS. Pintsil LOVES learning about the gospel and takes notes while we teach him! Also his phone went off about 5 times during the lesson and he kept getting so mad! The 5th time is went off he looked at his phone and started giving it a little "lecture" and then shoved it as far down the couch as he could and yelled at it and said, "I need. to listen. To the word. Of God. No. Distractions". haha I love these people from Africa!) 

4. Serve others with no thought of reward! 

Thursday was a very special day here in Spain! DIA DE ACCION DE GRACIAS!!! Well, ok it actually isn´t very special here. But in Tarragona for all the members it is special because they all know that the missionaries from America celebrate it! So we went over to Maria Rosa and Capi´s house for Medio Dia not expecting anything fancy. When we got there we walked in and it just smelled like Thanksgiving. I started to cry! Their house looks exactly like my house and when we turned the corner into the kitchen we saw a huge nice table all set with everything you could possibly imagine from an American Thanksgiving dinner!!! I had to keep turning away from everyone so that they wouldn´t see the tears coming. Not tears of saddness or homesickness but tears of gratitude. The members here love to serve people so much that they will go through so much effort as to stay up until 2am cooking us a thanksgiving meal that they found all online and then drove all over Spain to find the right ingredients for it!! I couldn´t have been more grateful! It was probably one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me!!! Maria Rosa, Capi, their daughter Alicia and her friend Grau are also the most humble and service oriented people I have ever met. They are so willing to do anything and everything for those around them with no thought of reward!! I love watching them and trying to shadow them in every action! We tried to repay them by giving them brownies. They came to pick up the brownies (because we were stuck in piso again one day this week) and when they came to our piso they brought in loads and loads of groceries, treats from the bakery, french bread and lasagna because they knew we were sick and couldn´t leave piso!!! WOW! I don´t think we will ever be able to repay them. But that´s what I love about their examples... they don´t want to be repaid. They just want to serve people because they Love their savior! I challenge you all to look for ways to serve those around you this week with no thought of reward! 

5. Exact obedience brings MILAGROS (miracles)

This is one of my favorite things that I have learned on the mission. This week we had another NDH with some of the sisters from RS and investigators. We were almost done when the elders walked in because it was at a house in their area that they just decided to pass by. Instead of staying in the same house as them, Hermana McWhorter and I looked at each other and then the Elders and before anyone had said anything we had grabbed our coats and started to leave. The Elders offered to leave too but we felt bad making them leave since they had just gotten there. We all felt a tiny bit awkward about the situation but it was also a really good learning experience. PLUS on our walk home to piso we saw ALL of the chirstmas lights!!!!! And the huge christmas tree and the big ice skating rink and stage the have set up in the middle of the town for christmas performances!! With all of the lights it honestly looks a lot like temple square and I feel right at home! Tarragona is the best place to be at Christmas time! I love it here :) Always be obedient even when it might be hard sometimes and you will always be blessed (sometimes with christmas lights:) 

6. All things will give us experience and be for our good 

My hip problems haven´t completely gone away but I know they will soon. But my sweet companion has been really sick as well so president has had us stay in piso the past 2 days again. At first it was really hard to go from a miracle week to not really being able to do anything. But then Hermana McWhorter and I realized that obviously we are supposed to be learning something from this. And that is when I remembered the scripture in DyC 122:7 that no matter what, even in the hardest times, all these things will be for our good. We just have to say "that´s great" and find how we can learn from it. I know that Heavenly Father has a perfect plan for each one of us and as we have an eternal perspective at all times we will find so much more happiness and learn SO much more of who He needs us to be in the processes. 

I know this was a lot to learn for this week! But I hope you can all at least choose one of these and apply it into your life. Work with the missionaries, follow the spirit, speak with the spirit, serve other people, and remember to find the good in all things! I know as we do this we will become a little bit closer to our Heavenly Father and Savior and they will help us see clearly the path they need us to be on in this life! 

I love you all and I LOVE being a missionary!!! Have a great week! 

Love, 

Hermana Eyring

We love being missionaries!

Noche de Hogar with Norah and her family and our
investigator Alejandra. Norah just got back from her
mission and was Hermana Smalley's trainer - small world!

The little girl, Marina, who calls us Hermana Elsa and Hermana Anna

We love serving in beautiful Spain!

Our Thanksgiving Celebration!

Alicia has recently returned from serving as a missionary

Look at this feast!

Maria Rosa even made turkeys for us to write down
on the feathers the things we are grateful for...

Feels like home