Muchas Desafios

Hola mi familia y amigos!

How is everyone this fine day? I am just doing absolutely amazing! I got to go shopping today for our PDAY and it was so fun! I love Spain! It is just gorgeous and so amazing! ALSO the temple has been closed for two weeks for cleaning but we get to go again this afternoon! I can´t even wait!!

Every Sunday we have a devotional from Presidente Lovell. He is just my favorite!! I am going to miss him and Hermana Lovell when I leave! Anyways, this past Sunday he talked all about the Book of Mormon! Being a missionary you have such a greater appreciation for the Book of Mormon! I am so grateful for the strength it brings to me each day and the testimony that I have of it that is continuously strengthened as I read from its pages. Never take it for granted!! I know it is true and I know that it is so important that we read from it EVERYDAY!!

I am also INCREDIBLY grateful for Joseph Smith. We watched Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration this past Sunday. I forgot how amazing that movie is! I cried through the whole thing! I am so grateful for Joseph smith and all He did for this amazing Church. Joseph truly lived a life dedicated and consecrated to the Gospel- completely doing the will of the Father. I know that he was a prophet of God. I know that he lived and died for the gospel and because of him we have the gospel in our lives today. Because of HIm I am serving a mission. I am so incredibly grateful for Joseph Smith and so many others who sacrificed their lives and everything they had so that we could have the gospel today. I am so grateful that they never gave up even when it was so unbearably hard. I know this church is true. I am so grateful for the examples like Emma and Joseph who truly dedicated their lives to serving the Lord. I know that I can follow their example with the help of my Savior.

We had an AMAZING devotional last Thursday night by Elder Bednar. He gave it at the MTC in Provo on Christmas day in 2011. If there is any possible way you can find a copy of that talk then please read it because it will change your life. Not only did it change my perspective of missionary work but it literally made me change my whole perspective on the rest of my life! I know that as we come to develop the Character of Christ in our own lives we will be so blessed and we will begin to turn outward more instead of inward!

This past Saturday at the park my companion and I talked to at least 5 different FAMILIES!! I love families and I especially love little kids! I loved talking to them and sharing the gospel with them. They were all very interested! I know that families are the main social unit in this church and we should never take them for granted. I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have that we can be together with our families forever!! And I am even more grateful for the opportunity I have to share that knowledge with the people here in Spain!

I spoke in church this past Sunday... IN SPANISH!!! AHHH! It was a pretty long talk but I think it went well... or at least I hope it did. I talked about obedience and shared the wonderful story of my Grandma and Grandpa Zwick and how they are always so obedient to the calls that come from the Lord. THANK YOU! Thank you to everyone for your examples to me of obedience.

I have been sending lots of emails to people... or at least last week I did. If you could email me back so that I at least know that you got them that would be fabulous! I just want to make sure everyone is getting my emails :)

Thank you for all the support, love and prayers you send to me! I know this church is true. I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to be a life long learner of the Gospel. I am constantly learning new things everyday! I love this work and the gospel SO SO MUCH!!My obedience talk I gave in church last Sunday!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Eyring

challenges:

1. read tad R. callisters talk from october 2014 (random I know)

2. read from the Book of Mormon everyday!!!!

3. Watch the joseph smith movie

4. Write down everyday moments when you saw the hand of the Lord in your day

5. Read Luke 10: 28-42 and think about ways to serve others without thinking of yourself!

Love you all!! Have a fantastic week!!

NOTE FROM MOM: Here is a copy of Allie's talk on Obedience for all you Spanish speakers on Allie's blog...the gift of tongues is real! I absolutely cannot believe that after 4 weeks Allie is able to not only write a talk like this but stand up and give it in Church - in Spanish...AMAZING!!!

En el evangelio uno de mis principios favoritos es La Obediencia. Yo quiero compartir una escritura con ustedes sobre los 2,000 (dos mil) jóvenes Guerreros lamanitas. En el a 56 (cincuenta y seis) versículo cuarenta y siete y dice así, "Hasta entonces nunca habían combatido; no obstante, no temían la muerte" después en capítulo cincuenta y siete versículo viente y uno y dice así, "Sí, y obedecieron y procuraron cumplir con exactitud toda orden; sí, y les fue hecho según su fe; y me acordé de las palabras que, según me dijeron, sus madres les habían enseñado." Aunque ellos nunca habían luchado ellos no tenían miedo porque ellos sabían que el señor estaba de su lado. Ellos sabían que mientras fueran exactamente obedientes iban a ser protegidos y bendecidos.

Yo quiero compartír una historia con ustedes sobre mis abuelos zwick. El pasado abril el padre de mi abuelo murió. Esto fue muy doloroso y duro para todos, porque todos lo amábamos mucho. Esto fue especialmente duro para mí abuelo. El día después del funeral mis abuelos Zwick fue llamado por la oficina de la primera presidencia. Ello fueron llamados para ser los Presidentes de Misión en Puerto Rico. Esto fue lo que mi abuela dijo sobre esta experiencia, " yo pensé para mi misma  ... Yo puedo hacer esto. Nosotros hemos hecho esto antes en Chile... Yo voy a necesita solo unos pocos meses para tener todo preparado y recordar mi español. Y después el presidente Eyring nos miro y dijo, "y necesitamos que vayáis este sábado ". Mi abuela dijo "se me cayo el mundo encima" porque ahora solo teníamos algunos días para prepáralo todo e irnos. sin embargo, ellos , mis abuelos aceptaron el llamamiento porque ellos son exactamente obedientes y sabían que elSeñor le iba a bendecir. El sábado siguiente fue el bautismo de mi hermana pequeña. Ellos vinieron por la mañana y después tuvieron que irse corriendo al aeropuerto.

Fueron a Puerto Rico para servir desde abril hasta julio. Incluso cuando solo fue un corto tiempo, ellos cambiaron la vida de miles al cambiar la misión completamente. Fue difícil para ellos dejar toda su familia para irse solo en poco días, pero sabían que el señor los necesitaba. Ellos sabían que a medida que eran obedientes con exactitud el señor haría el resto. No sabían exactamente el por que tenían que salir tan temprano y solo servir por tres meses, pero ellos confiaron en el Señor y por su obediencia se salvaron vidas.

He conocido algunas de estas personas tan increíbles. Sus vidas han cambiado. Realmente son milagros vivientes, porque dos personas decidieron ser obedientes con exactitud.

No siempre es fácil el ser obedientes con exactitud. De hecho, la mayoría del tiempo no lo es, pero incluso si nosotros no entendemos el por qué ahora, siempre valdrá la pena al final, porque algún día nosotros podremos ver la imagen completa que solo nuestro padre celestial puede ver. Pero ahora podemos tener la fe para ser obedientes. Debemos ser obedientes al seguir las reglas misionales, al escuchar las impresiones del Espíritu, al escuchar al Presidente, en nuestros llamamientos como misioneros, y lo mas importante, al ser discípulos del Señor Jesucristo todos los días de nuestra vida. Como mis abuelos, yo se que si nosotros somos obedientes, especialmente aquí en nuestras misiones, también podremos salvar las vidas de muchas personas.

Nuestro ejemplo supremo de obediencia es nuestro Salvador Jesucristo. El no quiso sufrir tanto en la Tierra. El no quiso beber la amarga copa, no quiso sangrar por cada poro, pero lo hizo "diciendo: Padre, si quieres, pasa de mí esta copa; pero no se haga mi voluntad, sino la tuya." El lo hizo por amor, no solo por amor hacia nosotros, si no también por su amor hacia su padre celestial. El amor debería ser el factor que nos motiva en todo lo que hacemos, y especialmente en la obediencia. ¿Estamos dispuestos a amar a nuestro Salvador y nuestro padre celestial lo suficiente para obedecer con exactitud todo aquello que nos pidan? Yo se que a medida que lo hacemos veremos milagros. Se que mi Salvador vive. El es mi mejor amigo y ejemplo. Se que a medida que nos enfocamos en el tendremos un mayor deseo de ser obedientes. Yo se que esta iglesia es verdadera. Se que esta establecida sobre los principios de la obediencia y amor. Digo estas cosas en el nombre de Jesucristo. Amen.

Hermana Eyring and Hermana Goulding in their coordinating outfits

Hermana Eyring has now mastered the verbs Ser, Ir and Estar in every tense!

 Pday at the Real Madrid Soccer Stadium -
"Estadio Santiago Bernabéu"

It is the second largest stadium in Spain - the largest is in Barcelona

The stadium has capacity for 85,454 spectators

The Hand of The Lord

I am going to do a really short email today so I have time to email everyone back. I just want you all to know how incredibly grateful I am for the hand of the Lord in my life! He is there for us EVERY SINGLE DAY! He puts people in our paths everyday, or scriptures, or songs, or emails, or letters, or devotionals, or honestly ANYTHING and it has an impact on our lives. I have started keeping a gratitude journal for all of the things I am grateful for in the day when I have seen the hand of The Lord in my day. Let me tell you all, that has been the biggest blessing in my life this past week. I ALWAYS run out of time to write everything down because there are always so many times that I notice The Lord´s hand in my day. I want to share a few of them with you from this week.

1. Hermana Rollins. She is incredible! I love both of my companions. Last week Hermana Devereaux taught me how important it is to realize that The Savior is our best friend and companion that will never leave us. This week Hermana Rollins taught us the importance of ALWAYS being happy no matter what! She told us a really personal story about when she lost her mom and we all bawled through the whole thing. But at the end when we were asking her how we could help her she said, "Oh I am totally fine! I am so grateful for the experiences I am having and even though I just barely lost my mom I know I need to be serving a mission right now and that is what will bless my family the most. I honestly don´t know how to be mad, sad or angry. I really have only known how to be happy!" She is the most incredible person and such a wonderful example to me. She is always happy and always looking for ways to share that happiness with others. She makes me want to be better every single day!

I am so blessed to be companions with these two amazing sisters...Hermana Deveraux and Hermana Rollins

2. Last week at the park I was with two of the new sisters learning Russian. They are just the cutest! Sister Collard and Sister Allred. The first lady we talked to was named Nuria. She was very excited to hear about the gospel and it was a neat opportunity for me to be able to speak so much spanish with her. I later found out that she is a teacher and just loves helping children learn and bringing light into their lives. HOW PERFECT!! I was able to completely relate to her and even better was that I was able to relate her teaching to the gospel. Such a neat experience where the Hand of the Lord was present. The next people we talked to was a couple from Australia. They were hilarious! Turns out that they lived in Boston for 40 years and they love biking! I definitely thought of my wonderful family when I talked to them! Heavenly Father truly loves ALL of His children and is preparing them to receive the Gospel by certain people. We need to be His hands and listen to where He needs us to be!

Teaching with Sister Collard and Sister Allred

3. A cute family from Germany came to take a tour of the MTC this week and they had two little blonde girls who spoke English! You can just picture me talking to them :) They honestly looked so much like Liza and Abby it was killing me! After they left I just cried and cried! I miss my little princesses so much!! But that was definitely a tender mercy from Heavenly Father to give me the opportunity to be with little kids in the CCM.The Hand of the Lord truly is in our Everyday lives. I challenge you all to write down every night at least 3 times when you saw the hand of the Lord. It will bless your life SO much!!

I know that The Lord is watching out for each and everyone of us and blesses our lives everyday! We truly do have so much to be grateful for! I am grateful for all of you and all of the letters and emails I receive from you! Thank you for your kind words and prayers! They are definitely felt here in Spain! I love you all!

Love,

Hermana Eyring

"The Alma District" with President and Sister Lovell 

We switched "chapas"

The best Music Director

Watching the sunset from our window

Missionary work: A humbling experience!

Hola mi familia! I am so glad I get to email you! Last night none of us could sleep because we were all so excited for PDAY and getting to email our families today! Today we get to go to the REAL Madrid Soccer Stadium!!!! I am so so so excited!! Plus it is cloudy and kind of rainy today... what a wonderful day! I love Spain and I especially love being a missionary in Spain!

This week I learned SO much about myself, other people and especially the LOVE that our Father in Heaven has for each of us. It is incredible. I want to share a few of my experiences with you. I have been kind of nervous the past week for whatever reason I am not really sure. I am just scared to be in a different country and not be able to speak the language. I read in Isaiah 54 during my personal study though and it helped me SO much! Everyone go read that chapter. The Lord truly does protect His faithful servants. I know that as long as I am doing His work and being obedient that I will be watched over and protected everyday.

Both of our Progressing investigators are getting baptized!!!! Yay! They are both so ready and I am so happy for them! We switch progressing investigators on Friday and I am honestly going to cry when I have to say goodbye. I don´t like change and I HATE goodbyes... but that is definitely something I am going to have to learn to accept here on the Mission.

This past Saturday at the Park, Hermana Brown and I were companions. We talked to a lot of people even though we were rejected so many times. It was such a great learning experience though. My favorite person we talked to was Evelyn on the Metro. She saw us and we sat down next to her and she immediately wrapped up her headphones and put her ipod away to talk to us. She didn´t speak any english so that was fun haha. But when we started talking to her about the  Book of Mormon, she pulled one out of her purse and told us that she had talked to missionaries before. It was so neat!!! So then we proceeded to teach her about the restoration and taught her how to pray to know that the Book of Mormon is true! It was incredible! "The principle I learned that day..." was that the lord truly does prepare His children to hear the gospel! (that´s in PMG chapter 9 I believe!).  It is incredible to see that the Lord is hastening His work everyday! I am so grateful I get to be a missionary at this time in the world!

We had our first companionship inventory this week :) It wasn´t planned, but we could all tell that we really needed it. We were all struggling after our TRC on Saturday and so we skipped sports and Hermana Devereaux and Hermana Rollins and I all sat and just talked about life and everything going on in our little brains. It was so wonderful. I love them both so much! Hermana Rollins is teaching me and Hermana Devereaux so so much! During companionship inventory she taught us how important it is to sometimes just be quiet to be able to hear the small whisperings of the Spirit. Hermana Devereaux and I are ALWAYS talking during the lessons because we don't want there to be any "awkward pauses" or have them start asking questions in spanish that we can´t answer. But Hermana Rollins will really take the time to ponder and think about answers to investigators questions so she knows that she is saying what Heavenly Father needs her to! It is so neat and such a good example to me. I have decided to pause throughout my day more often and take time to just recognize the still small voice of the Spirit to know what my Heavenly Father needs me to do and say. That is how we will become TRUE disciples of our Savior Jesus Christ and be able to most effectively share His gospel with the world.

We learned a lot about strengthening companionships this week! I thought it was so neat because not only did it relate to missionary work but also related A TON to marriage. I thought a lot about mom and dad this week and the perfect examples they are to me of what a companionship should be like! I don´t have time to type up all of my notes from it but I will send a picture of them and hopefully they will make sense. I love this quote though, "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go FAR... go together". We need to give up our own wills and desires and just strive to love and serve our companions... whether temporal or eternal! If we do so, we will be blessed and our relationships will be strengthened!

FUNNY/RANDOM things:

1. We went shopping this week with Hermana Lovell and we found a huge Bamax (from Big Hero Six) in the store! It was so great!

2. Elder Gourley... one of the missionaries who left to Russia this past week said to tell Grandpa Eyring and Grandpa Zwick thank you for everything they are doing and have done for everyone in the world and especially missionaries.

3. We were having a lesson with Pablo y Clara this week and we decided we wanted to do it at the temple. So we did and we were sitting on a huge wall on the grass right next to the Madrid Temple. The Spirit was so strong and we committed Clara to Baptism and Pablo to baptize her! Then we said the closing prayer and afterwards we were just talking and taking our own sweet time getting off the huge wall when all the sudden... the sprinklers turned on!!! It was HILARIOUS!!! We all had to make a run/jump for it in our skirts!!! Then once we got off we realized my scriptures were still in the sprinklers. So Clara (Hermana Giorgino) had to go back in the sprinklers and get them for me! So funny!! Good times here in España!

4. Hermana Brown and I were at the park and we were all done and getting ready to leave when a lady came over, grabbed our hands and put leaves in them and started blessing us with so many different things. Then when she was done she asked for money. We honestly didn´t have any and we told her that but then she got all angry and called us liars and mean names in spanish and grabbed our hands and cursed us. I had to use every fiber in my being not to laugh because it was quite hilarious.

Park Day - teaching with Hermana Brown

5. Our friends going to Russia, Portugal and France left on Tuesday. It was the saddest thing ever!!!! We all cried so hard! Sister Jessop left (our sister training leader) which meant we got a new one... Hermana Devereaux!! She is the absolute cutest and honestly just makes us all want to be better! Also we got LOTS of new missionaries. 6 Elders and 7 Sisters... ALL speaking Russia (but from the states) except for one Elder who is learning Spanish with us. It is weird to have all new people here, but it is also really fun and we are trying to make them all feel loved and welcomed! Alyssa - some of the Russian Learners were so excited when they found out that we are cousins and they said they had you as a teacher in the MTC.

6. Livvy Lou- Thanks for my letter you sweet girl! That was so nice of you and made me SO happy!!! I miss you princess!

7. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my district!!! That´s all :)

I am going to end my emails from now on with "Things I learned this week":

1. Teach with the spirit. That is the Lord´s way and since this is His work that is how we should teach and live our lives!

2. Our companions teach us SO much everyday! We should constantly thank our Father in Heaven for them!

3. The Lord teaches us new things everyday and we need to humble ourselves and be willing to learn what He needs us to!

I am so grateful for each and every one of you and the examples you all are to me! I know that this church is true and I love love love love LOOOOOOVVVVEEEEE teaching the Gospel! I know that it blesses our lives and it will bless the lives of those we share it with. I know that as we humble ourselves and we are willing to listen to the Holy Ghost that we will be able to be more obedient and be more willing to give the Lord our WHOLE heart and just simply do His work. I hope you all had a fantastic week and I can´t wait to hear from you all soon!! Don´t forget to go read Isaiah 54 and also read the book of Enos... try to make your prayers more sincere and heartfelt this week. Heavenly Father loves you and He hears and answers you!

xoxo  Hermana Allie Eyring :) MUAH!!

Missionaries at the Madrid MTC with President and Sister Lovell. Someone from the missionary department sent Grandpa Z this photo with the following caption - "The MTC president tells me that Sister Eyring is absolutely exceptional!!  She is happy and working hard".

Leading music in the park

I love singing together in the Park

In class with my District

Practicing together in the bathroom to sing a song I arranged

Goodbye to all the sisters leaving the MTC - SO SAD!!!

Madrid Temple and CCM - it is so beautiful!

Mickey Mouse is very popular in Madrid - He is EVERYWHERE here!

Hermana Brown, Smalley and Me standing in the Center of Madrid.

Hermana Smalley, Hermana Devereaux, Me and Hermana Jessop acting like the Statues

Pday with Sisters I love

A castle in Madrid we went to for Pday

Hooray for PDAY!!
Hermana Fernandes, Hermana Jessop, Hermana Devereaux,  Hermana Rollins, Me, Hermana Smalley, Elder Lisonbee, Elder Merrill, Elder Reeder and Hermana Brown in front 

Spanish Castle with almost all of the Spanish speaking missionaries - I just love them all so much!

PDAY...it's like CHRISTMAS every single week!!!!

MI FAMILIA!!!!!! Hola! Come estan?!?! IT´S PDAY!!! Honestly, PDAY is like having Christmas every week because we get to email home. Of course we are all focused but emailing your family is just wonderful! PDAY is so fun... well so far! We go to the temple every Thursday and I love it!! Then we have personal study but NOBODY can focus because we are all just counting down the minutes until we can email haha. It´s quite hilarious.

I can't believe I have been gone for more than a week! But at the same time it feels like it's been years since I last saw all of you! How is everyone doing? How is the last week of school going? I guess it's pretty much over now, huh?! Are you so excited for summer?? What are your first plans for the first week of summer? Mom and dad, how was Boston? I am so incredibly jealous! I wish I could have been with you but also Spain is pretty great too ;) well. I guess the CCM is pretty great- we haven't really been anywhere besides the CCM, the temple (literally right outside the door- pic to follow), THE park (where we go every Saturday to teach people), and the fields where we go to play soccer and ultimate frisbee. Fun fact- ultimate frisbee is definitely my sport ;) it's so much fun and it's something that all of us missionaries here in the CCM love to play during our physical activity time (we get an hour a day). Ok sorry, back to your lives really fast- thanks for all of the pictures and emails!! If I have time I will write each of you back personally. We literally have ZERO time here in the CCM! There are only 24 of us here and on Tuesday, all the Russian, Portuguese and French learners leave! But I think we're getting a few more misioneros. Anyway, we are small in number but it just makes it that much more fun!!! Honestly we all have SO much fun together! We are going to all cry so hard when we have to go! I am NOT looking forward to that day! Actually, I'm not looking forward to any transfer.... As you all know... I don't do well with change ;) but that's ok because I have a dear friend who once told me that Heavenly Father lets us be comfortable where we are and in our callings and then he changes things on us so we can continue to learn and grow! 

Wow! Lo siento (I am sorry)! This email is ALL over the place! Trying to write a week and a half's worth of stuff is just too much to ask of Hermana Allie Eyring! Writing about one day would probably take at least an hour! And I only get 45 minutes here in the CCM!!!!!! Ahhh! Ok. Let's get down to business (to defeat the Huns. Hahaha ok sorry. That was for all my Disney lovers). Now for real :) 

I was called to be the music coordinator for the CCM! I put together all of the music and help direct the music at the park on Saturday's and also on Sunday´s in front of the temple. I love it!!!!

Getting my "Chapa" (or Placa or name badge or whatever you like to call it. Here we call it a Chapa) was the most incredible thing EVER!!! It made me feel like a real live missionary!!! I never take it off except for when I am showering haha. The other sisters probably think I am weird but I even sleep in it! I am going to take advantage of every minute I get to wear it for these 18 months.

Random:

-my freckles are going crazy here in España!

-my straightener doesn´t work and neither does anyone else's so the mission president´s wife is taking us all shopping tomorrow! Yay!!

-I can read spanish but hearing it is hard because of the ceta. But I´m getting used to it!

-When I was nervous this is something Elder Merrill said, "Hermana Eyring might be nervous, but Jesus Christ isn´t nervous. And you don´t represent Hermana Eyring on your mission, you represent Jesus Christ. So you don´t have to be afraid!! I promised Him that I would give up my fears from day one and you can do it too!!" I loved that!!

-Our District is the ALMA district (it´s the best one in case you were wondering). Our district motto (nobody else has one... just us haha) is, "Si Se Puede!!" We can do it!!!! Also our district mascot is "gato grande". Don´t ask why because I´m not really sure haha.

-FUTURE MISSIONARIES.... BRING STICKY NOTES!!!!!! I use them everyday and wish I brought more! They will save your life!! Also, just know that you can study PMG everyday before your mission (and you should) but on your mission you are going to come to appreciate it so much more and it will apply DIRECTLY to you!!! Same with the scriptures and everything else you read. Everything becomes so much more personal on a mission!!

-We have watched a few different devotionals and I love them all! Elder Bednar´s 2009 MTC talk was incredible!!! everyone go look it up and read it this week... that´s my challenge to you!!

-Grandpa Zwick.... the objective in chapter one of PMG is wrong in the Spanish version on the Ipads. I am not sure why they haven´t changed it but we realized that it isn´t the same as the correct one in the actual PMG.

-There is a ginormous lizard in the Elders' room!!!! Pray that it doesn´t come into my room haha.

-ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS invite someone to be baptized the first time you teach them (unless the spirit tells you not to). The Giorginos explained it to me like this... we are in a boat in the ocean and thousands of people are surrounding us with nothing to float on. In our boat we have thousands of life vests. We aren´t just going to keep the life vests to ourselves, right? We are going to start throwing them to people! We have the necessary doctrines and steps that lead to eternal life with our father in heaven. We can´t just keep it to ourselves! We have to share it!!! It is then up to them whether or not they accept it but we just have to do the inviting. OPEN YOUR MOUTH!!! Talk to everyone you see... that is something I have learned this first week and it makes life so much more fun! So just trust me and do it! Share the gospel with everyone around you and you will bless lives!!!

-My companions are PHENOMENAL!!!! I love them both! Hermana Rollins was a little more shy at first. Her mom passed away a few months ago and I about died when I heard that. I don´t think I could leave after that happened to me. She has an incredibly powerful testimony! Mom, maybe you could write her a letter? (and Hermana Devereaux too so she doesn´t feel left out haha). Hermana Devereaux is just the absolute cutest! The three of us get along so well and our lessons together are always wonderful. I love the spirit that they bring into everyday!

Ok, the park!! Really fast! Each week we get to go to the park that is a few metro stops away from the CCM. We get paired up with a random companion from the CCM the night before and then we just go out and start talking to people! We carry around BOMs, pamphlets, pass along cards and everything else we feel that we need! I was with Hermana Jessop this week and it was the most amazing thing in the whole entire world!!! We contacted 27 people, placed 5 BOMs, LOTS of pass along cards, and got 4 Referrals!! It was incredible!! The spirit of missionary work is real! Not that numbers mean anything, but I am just grateful that I was able to help other people come a little bit closer to their Savior Jesus Christ! Also, we get to sing in the park! SO SO fun!!!! And I lead it!

Teaching in the Park with Sister Jessop

My companions and I have SOOOO much fun together! They teach me so much every single day! Being a missionary is such a humbling experience... especially when you are learning a language. Mostly we just laugh at ourselves because we usually speak spanglish ,) We teach 2 lessons everyday. We have "progressing investigators" (our teachers... who I love!!! Especially the Gioginos! They are the CUTEST COUPLE EVER!!!!!! I want to be just like them when I am older! AH I love them!!). Anyways, we prepare for lessons everyday and go teach once in the morning and once at night. I was nervous at first that I wasn´t going to be able to do it because I don´t like teaching people who I know are members and know everything already. But it is crazy how close you get to your investigators and how much you can feel the spirit in those lessons. I have started crying multiple times! BEST LESSON EVER... so far.... it was our first lesson with Cristina and we had a whole lesson planned out about the Book of Mormon. But then it ended up taking a whole different route because she asked so many questions and was so interested in everything we said. We ended up teaching her about the whole restoration and then had her read the first vision to us. Remember this is all in Spanish. Then we all just felt the spirit so strongly and started crying! Cristina was crying the hardest. We hadn´t even really talked about Baptism but we just knew she was ready. We challenged her (in Spanish) to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized! And she ACCEPTED!!!!!!! It was so incredible!!! Golden investigator right there!!!!! I love teaching and I love sharing the gospel!! At times our language studies get really long because we go for so many hours in our district classroom without stopping. But then when we go in and teach lessons I remember my purpose as a missionary (in Spanish because I have that memorized) and all of the long Spanish classes are worth it!!

Our other progressing investigators are Pablo y Clara (played by the Giorginos). They are so fun to teach. Pablo used to be active but isn´t anymore and Clara wanted to know more about what he used to believe. They are incredible and we are taking them on a tour of the temple tomorrow and then challenging Clara to be baptized! She is so ready! It is amazing to me that even though I can´t speak anywhere near to fluent Spanish yet that the Lord can still use me as an instrument in His hands to bring His children back to Him. The Holy Ghost truly is the real teacher and as long as we are obedient and have the spirit with us then Heavenly Father will help us with the rest. Something that I love that Hermano Giorgino taught us this past week was this.... (technically it´s from Elder Bednar but he stole it from him). In Moses 1:39 it says what God´s purpose is... to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of men. In D yC 11:20 it says what our purpose is. Our work and glory is to be obedient. That is all we have to do and then if we are obedient to everything the Lord will help us to learn the language and to teach people and fulfill our missionary purpose of inviting and helping others come unto Christ. I know that as we strive to be EXACTLY obedient to everything that our Heavenly Father (or parents or mission president or general authorities) ask of us that we will be blessed and we will be able to be more effective servants for our Heavenly Father!! 

Sorry I couldn´t write everyone back personally!!! Too many emails and not enough time! But I love hearing from you all so thank you thank you!!

Again, thank you SO SO SO much for emails, letters and pictures! They literally mean the world to me!! We have iPads here in the CCM and we are the first misioneros who get to have them here! Yay for being guinea pigs! Since we have email on our iPads, the rule is we get to read emails everyday after 5pm BUT we can only respond to them on pday (jueves... Thursday... Today). So if you ever want to just send me a sentence or picture or an "I love you" then I just know it would be greatly appreciated at 5pm Spain time ;) 

I love you all and pray for you EVERY single time I say a prayer... also it´s in Spanish :) Have a great week!!!!

A perfect companionship
Hermana Eyring, Hermana Devereaux, Hermana Rollins

Allie called to be the Music Coordinator for the MTC

I learn so much from my wonderful companions!

Looking at the temple right outside the window

Home Sweet Home

Our District Motto: "Si Se Puede - We Can Do It!"

CCM Missionaries

Singing at the Temple