Las familias pueden ser eternas

Hello Everyone! I hope you all have had a fantastic week! Today is my wonderful companion´s birthday! It has been super hard to plan lots of surprises for her since we are with each other ALL the time, but some how we managed to make it really special. On Saturday night we had a surprise birthday party with Alex´s family. We had a lesson with his whole family first (they are really interested in the church and I am so excited to keep teaching them) and then we had a cake that they made just for her and it was SO good! it was some sort of special cake from Bolivia. On Sunday after church, we went over for medio dia to Ines and Liset´s house like normal and then we ended up having a surprise medio dia with Obispo and Angela and their friend Ana and they made a Korean birthday lunch!  It was all the traditional food for a Korean birthday and Hermana Lee LOVED it! Inés then played the birthday video from my sweet family and videos from Hermana Lee´s family! I was crying and it wasn't even for my birthday! On Sunday evening we had a surprise Family Home Evening Birthday with the whole ward. When we walked into the church she was SHOCKED!!! SOOO many people were there.... including our recent converts and investigators! It was so fun! Hermana Angela gave a really good lesson and then we all got to visit with each other and eat food from all over the world that members prepared! Hermana Lee can´t stop talking about how happy she is about it! For preparation day we rented bikes in Cataluyna and biked to Arc de Triomf and ate bocadillas in the park as a district!! It was SO fun!!! That was definitely the best preparation day activity I have ever had!!!!  It was gorgeous and reminded me of our bike ride in Paris... DOMINATE THE ROAD :) Anyways, I think it has been a great birthday weekend for Hermana Lee! I can´t believe we only have one week left together! 

This past week Hermana Lee and Hermana Fernandez were super sick one day. They are so good and wanted to keep working but Hermana Wiseman and I knew that they couldn´t... sooooo.... SPLITS!!!! We literally forced them to stay inside and we had to bascially sneak out of piso to go to work so that they could rest. Hermana Wiseman and I looked at each other and said, "perfect...let´s go tackle two areas in one day!" And.... that´s exactly what we did! WOW we were a little in over our heads because we basically RAN to every single cita and we were 10 minutes late to everything. BUT we were so blessed and we were able to meet with so many people - at the end of the day my feet had never hurt so bad but I had also never felt happier - I had the biggest smile on my face!! The Hermanas have 3 baptisms next week - they are teenage sisters (it's like me, Emma and Audrey all getting baptized together)!!! 

Which leads me to my next point... FAMILIES! This was my "theme" of the week especially with Manuel's baptism!!! Families are so so so important. It is important for us as missionaries to look for families because then we can help more people come unto christ. But more than that it is because this gospel is centered on families and we are here on this earth placed in families to bless and lift each other! We went and visited Hermana Sandra and Hermano Limber (who baptized Alex) and their family the other night for Noche de Hogar and dinner. They are absolutely incredible and such a strong family. My favorite part is that they are just all best friends in their family. They have rules and they do scriptures every night and NDH every week and they help and serve in the church... but I just love that whenever I see them together you can really see that they truly are best friends! I love what Aunt Christine said in her talk this past week at BYU-Idaho... when we put our family first then the Lord will help us with everything else. I know that is true and I was so grateful for that reminder! I love you family and miss you all so much!  It is hard sometimes to be SO many miles away from my incredible family and I realize more and more everyday how much I love each one of you and how you truly are my best friends! I am so grateful for each of you and the examples you are to me!  Las familias pueden ser eternas! SIEMPRE!!! That is a promise from our Heavenly Father. 

Manuel´s baptism was incredible!!!! The spirit was so strong and it was so neat to see how much he has changed even just in this last month. When we have a desire, the Lord will truly help us to change. We are so blessed to have the knowledge of the Atonement in our lives! I loved Manuel´s baptism so much... especially because now he and Johanna (a member and his girlfriend) are preparing to get married in the temple! They will go to the temple this next weekend for baptisms for the dead and then in a year for their sealing!!!! It was so neat to hear both of their testimonies about how this is the start to their eternal family! I loved it! Families are so important and so important to our heavenly Father. He doesn´t want us to make this journey alone... we have each other and we can keep learning and growing together for eternity! I am so grateful for this blessing and gift that we have! 

Thanks for all the emails, letters and prayers! You are all amazing! 

Love, 

Hermana Eyring

Our District

Our amazing and supportive ward

Playing "Ninja" with our ward for Family Home Evening

Birthday Cakes from our ward

Feliz Cumpleaños Hermana Lee!

Food from all over the world

Hermana Lee's surprise party with our Ward Family

Preparation Day Bike Ride with our District

Arc de Triumf - built in 1888 as the main access
for the World Fair. In the stone it says "Barcelona
rep las nacions" which is Catalan for "Barcelona
welcomes the nations."

A beautiful day for biking in Barcelona!

Manuel's Baptism

Manuel y Johanna so happy!

"Tú eres más bueno que al pan!"

Mi amoroso familia! 

¿Que tal todo en el Estados Unidos? Ojala que todo esta bien y especialmente con colegio y trabajo y sus llamamientos en la iglesia... oh y tambien la obra misional en utah y todo lugares en el mundo :) Gracias por sus ejemplos para mi cada día. Me encanta el motivación de mi familia y amigos en todo del mundo. GRACIAS!! 

Ok...I will switch back into English but I really am starting to LOVE Spanish and it is hard for me to speak in English sometimes! I never thought that day would come but it is actually happening! I LOVE SPANISH! And I love Spain and I love this mission and basically I never want to leave! Obviously I miss all of you so so so much but this honestly is the most incredible work EVER and I feel so grateful to be a part of it. 

The title of my email this week is something Spaniards say all the time to people they love and respect! It means "you are better than bread" - they LOVE bread here so much so saying that someone here is the nicest thing you can say! And since I love and respect and look up to each of you so much then I want you to all know  - you are ALL better than bread!

I want to tell you about someone really special named Yahiara. She is quite amazing! I think I have talked about her before. She is our cute pregnant investigator who is due with her baby in October. She has been investigating the church for two years but hasn´t been able to come to church because of her work con las personas mayor (old people). EVERYONE here takes care of old people! It is kind of cute but also really annoying because they can never leave the house to come to church... well they could but they just use the excuse that  they can´t leave the old person alone for that long. So I just really hope that Heavenly Father takes his adorable old people all back home with him soon so all of our investigators can start coming to church :) Anyways, we went and talked to Yahiara´s boss (an old lady who is CRAZY). The past two years she has told Yahiara that she couldn´t go to church. But Hermana Lee and I shared a scripture with her and GUESS WHAT?!?! Her boss said YES!!! It was the most exciting news ever! Yahiara, Hermana Lee and I were literally all jumping up and down in the air together like little kids on Christmas... we were SO happy! She came to church last week and LOVED it and was so excited to be baptized on the 19th but then her boss wouldn´t let her come this past week so we had to change her baptismal date. She is so excited to get baptized and I really hope it happens before Hermana Lee leaves (sept 29th). 

We had intercambios this week and I got to be with the incredible Hermana Fenn!!!! Wow! She is absolutely amazing!!! We are so much alike and I love it! I don´t think I have ever been happier than when I was companions with her for 24hours. I honestly just felt like I wanted to be my very best self the whole time and I loved it! I felt like I could act completely like myself which I haven´t really been able to do since I got here to Spain. It was wonderful! She is ALWAYS thinking of other people, teaching with the spirit, laughing and having fun but being completely obedient, and really just giving her whole heart and soul to the work! I love her so so so much and I am so grateful for the example she is to me! I hope so much I get to be companions with her one day down the road :) 

Lilii is just about the cutest person ever! She works at my favorite Gelato place :) Basically I met her because I go there once a week for Gelato when I am on an intercambio and buy my companion ice cream! It´s a really fun tradition and plus then we get to have a lesson with Lilii our investigator. She is from Domican Republic and LOVES the missionaries! She now has a Book of Mormon and reads it every night! She works two jobs though so basically the only time we can see her is at the gelato place at nine pm right by Sagrada Familia! Which is totally fine by me... gelato and missionary work... could there be a better combination?? :) Anyways, we are really trying to help her understand the gospel better and be able to come to church next week! She is amazing! 

We had two incredible miracles this week!! We challenged Jessica (alex´s sister) to get baptized about a week ago. She said she wanted to get baptized but when we went to challenge her for the date she decided to be a little sassy and said, "no... Next june" haha. It was cute and now we all laugh about it because at first she was so scared. But then we finally decided on sept 26th. She still was hesitant about it but said she would pray about it. Then Alex called us this past week and said, "so... I have been talking with my sister. The other day she came up to me and said you were talking to her about baptism. She was nervous at first, but now she really wants to do it and then I was able to share my testimony with her about how this church and my baptism has changed my whole entire life!" AHHHH! It was the best thing ever!!! Members are the best and honestly the key to this missionary work!! Also speaking of Alex... the sisters (Hermana Wiseman and Fernandez) have a girl they are teaching who is Alex´s age and absolutely adorable. Her name is Olga and she is from Bolivia too. She really wants to get baptized! The sisters took Alex with them to a lesson and basically the conclusion is... we all think the two of them should get married!!! They are the absolute cutest and so perfect for each other because they are both SO strong and both want to raise a strong family in the gospel! How cute is that?!?! Haha this is basically the closest we get to "relationship stories" here on the mission so we were all pretty excited and spent a whole night planning it out :) 

Manuel was also a miracle! He is the boyfriend of Johanna (a member in our ward) he is the one who walked into the lesson last week and said, "ok, so what day can I get baptized so I can go to the temple??" Anyways, we found out that his house actually isn´t in our area. We were so sad and we called the Stake President and President Dayton and we were going to have to pass him on to other sisters in a different area! AHHHH His baptism was scheduled for THIS FRIDAY!!!! BUT here is the miracle. We were basically in tears as we called Johanna to tell her and she said, "Manuel has two houses... one here right by the church and one far away" WHAT?! Oh my goodness!!! What an incredible miracle! So no worries... the baptism is still on and I will tell you all about it next week! I can´t wait!! They are going to be the cutest family ever! I hope they get married later than next november so that I can come back for their temple marriage!!!! :) 

I honestly love being on a mission so so much!!! My scripture for the week is Mosiah 3. If you get a chance go read the whole thing and think about our Savior and everything He has done for us. It really is incredible! I love the first few verses that talk about JOY. True Joy and true happiness truly come from our Savior Jesus Christ. I have come to see that here on my mission. "That´s why.... I couldn´t be happier... right here... because happy is what happens... when you share the gospel" (a song from Wicked with a little gospel twist to it). It is so true though.... happiness really does come from the gospel and when we share this wonderful message with others then we are even happier. Alex said to us this week, "I have never been happier in my life than I am right now. Thank you so much for helping me find the church. I cannot thank you enough! I feel like I am dreaming and I never want to wake up! My true dream though is to serve a mission so that I can do this work all day everyday and never have to stop!!" I thought about that for awhile. Sometimes I take my mission for granted. I have literally dreamt about this for my whole entire life and now I am finally here serving the Lord and doing His work! I am literally living my dream! :) I am so grateful for this work and couldn´t be happier!!! I know this Church is true and I love it with my whole heart. I know that as we share this Gospel with those around us and live it everyday that we will find true happiness. President Uchtdorf's words describe my feelings perfectly... "I am here because I desire with all my heart to follow my master, Jesus Christ. I yearn to do all that He asks of me in this great cause. I hunger to be edified by the Holy Spirit and hear the voice of God as He speaks through His ordained servants. I am here to become a better (wo)man, to be lifted by the inspiring examples of my brothers and sisters in Christ, and to learn how to more effectively minister to those in need. In short, I am here because I love my Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ". That is why I am here on my mission and really that should be why we are here in this life. Our main motivation should be LOVE for our Heavenly Father and Savior. We must do all things out of Love for them... THEN our hearts will truly be in the right place and we will love this work! That is why I am here and want to be a missionary forever! I know it is true! I challenge you all to be more motivated by LOVE for them in all you do... I promise it will change your life! 

I love you!! 

Hermana Eyring 

PS We had Dia de Cataluyna this week! It was pretty crazy here! We ended up having to stay inside all day but

 don´t worry we are safe :) It reminded me of the 4th of July with a lot more people!

LOVE YOU LOVE YOU LOVE YOU!!!!!

Dia de Cataluyna

Thank you for the package- we loved it!!!

Manuel and Johanna

Having dinner with Hermana Peggy and Hermana Violetta

Intercambio Gelato Tradition. I loved being with Hermana Fenn!

Ines is a family history consultant so she is working with our
recent converts on their family history. It is wonderful to see
these new members embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ and
want to share it with their families!

Our ward Baptism Board we made...

We finally made it on a tour of Sagrada Familia. 

It is so beautiful!!!

Preparation Day lunch with the bishop's wife - Angela

Guadi's School

Hermana Wiseman, Hermana Fernandez, Hermana Lee-
Love these sisters!

A visit from home - the Pitt's (friends from Centerville) came
to our ward on Sunday bringing a package and hugs from home!

Inés is such a wonderful friend in the ward and helps us so much!

Inside our ward building

It is such a nice place to be able to meet each Sunday and
throughout the week!

Our beautiful meetinghouse

We are just instruments in His hands!

Hello my wonderful family and friends! 

It sure has been a fantastic week here in Barcelona! I can´t believe I only have 2 preparation days left and then transfers again! 

This past week was full of milagros... as always! Everyday there are seriously the smallest but most miraculous experiences that just change the whole entire day and week. This past Wednesday was especially incredible - We had a lesson with Rosio a menos activo. We were planning on teaching her and her daughter Brisa who is 13. We were going to challenge Brisa to get baptized because she seemed so prepared! But then when we got there and sat down on the couch we started talking to Rosio and she just started to cry. She couldn´t find Brisa for over two hours and was so worried about her... especially since she doesn´t even have a phone. I was just grateful that we were able to be there to comfort her in a time of need. She finally found Brisa and everything was ok. We ended up doing a completely different lesson than we had planned but the spirit carried it and it was wonderful. We are just instruments in His hands!

Then we had a lesson with Jaqueline (the cousin of Alex) and her mom, Margarita. They are the sweetest and so interested in the gospel and everything we teach them! We challenged Jaqueline to be baptized on September 26th and she said YES!! Alex has been very helpful in teaching Jaqueline and it has been so neat to see his testimony touch her heart. She came to church this past week and it was wonderful! We have one of our cute mujeres jovenes helping us teach them because they are so similar in age and in the things they like. I really think one of the reasons Jaqueline is wanting to change is because of Laura (YW) and her example! Members are the BEST!!!! While we were having a lesson with them, a lady who lives with them started talking to us and we found out that she was an investigator from a long time ago... Lourdes. She told us that the only reason she hasn´t come to church is because she has had work on sundays but now she doesn´t so now she can come!!!! YAY!!!! We didn´t even do anything though... she literally just told us she was ready to come to church now! What a miracle. We are just instruments in His hands! 

Then we went to have a lesson with Manuel. Manuel is the boyfriend of Johanna. He was taking the charlas a long time ago but then he was too busy with work so he said he would be ready in September. We didn´t really believe him but then he literally called on September 1st saying he was ready to finish the lessons and be baptized!!! Wow. What a huge miracle. we had a lesson with him (he doesn´t like Johanna to be in the lessons because he wants to make sure he is doing it for himself and nobody else. So sweet). He asked if he could baptized on the 18th of this month and I am so happy for him!!! He wants to go to the temple and then next year get married in the temple! So wonderful! We truly are just instruments in His hands! 

Adriane is one of Jaqueline´s friends and I love her so so much!!!! We took her to get ice cream the other day and had a lesson with her. She tells us everytime she is with us how much she loves how happy we always are and how the spirit is with us! She is only 17 yet she recognizes the spirit so easily and I know she is gaining a testimony of her own and a desire to know more! I can´t wait to challenge her to be baptized this week!! 

Basically every Saturday we have a baptism in our district and it is so wonderful! I love going to baptisms to see more of our Heavenly Father´s children coming closer to returning home to Him. They are very special... especially since President and Hermana Dayton are basically at every single one of them! I love this area so so so much!!!!! I would love to stay here my whole entire mission if that was possible!! 

I love serving here in Spain. I know this is where my Heavenly Father needs me to be! I know that this church is true and I love it with my whole entire heart!! I love sharing it with people and I know that the joy that we have in our lives can be part of our family´s and friends lives as we just open our mouths and share this wonderful message we have!! Thank you all for your examples to me! I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week! Try this week to find ways to be instruments in our Heavenly Father´s hands because He needs us in this great work! 

Love, 

Hermana Eyring 

Random/funny:

1. Caprabo is my FAVORITE store!!!!!! They have everything!!

2. We witnessed a man being run over by a motorcycle outside our window this past week during weekly planning. Quite traumatizing! BE SAFE!

3. We have Día de Cataluña (National Day of Catalonia) on Friday (September 11...Kind of ironic) haha that should be fun! Everyone wear your red and yellow!!!! It is a day long  - it is a day long festival here -  honoring the defenders of the city who died during the War of the Spanish Succession.

4. We try to go to ward choir every once and awhile to support the ward but let me just tell you... it is the most painful thing EVER!!! The people here are a little tone deaf (actually a lot). hermana lee and I just end up laughing the whole time. But it´s nice of them to still come and try their hardest! 

5. I played the piano in sacrament meeting - everyone keep practicing!

Intercambio with Hermana Thorpe

The Groppmans are an amazing couple - they came to do a Night of Music at the church.
They are so talented and help out a lot with the Orchestra on Temple Square - incredible people!

Me, Hermana Thorpe, Hermana Fernandez and
Hermana Wiseman with our investigator Adriane.

Sunday "Medio Dia" with Inés and Liset

Preparation Day at the Museum of Science

After District Meeting we went to Hollyburg for Medio Dia

A visit to Barcelona Stadium

Having crepes with the kids of our Relief Society President- Hermana Vanessa
and her husband Hermano Abinadi. They have a beautiful home and family!

Toma, Toma, Toma, Toma!!!!!! :)

HOLA mis amigos y mi familia, 

How is everyone doing this week?? I can´t believe school is now in session for basically everyone!!!  I can´t believe it has been a whole year since I started my freshman year at BYU. I hope everyone is loving school so far and I would love to hear all about it when you get a chance! 

So this past week was full of milagros y aprendiendo (miracles and learning)... como SIEMPRE (like ALWAYS)! The title of my post "toma, toma, toma, toma!!!!" is what they say here when something big or miraculous happens. It translates to mean "take that" but in a good and nice way. Heavenly Father has miraculous ways of helping us learn important things. I learned this week that I love my area so so much and I need to be more grateful for my time here! I went to another sisters area for intercambio (exchanges) yesterday and everyone we tried to contact either got mad at us or shook their head and said, "tengo prisa"... haha everyone says that... meaning "I´m in a hurry". It was really weird for me to see because here in my area almost everyone we talk to either invites us to come to their home, asks how they can learn more about the church, or kindly says that they are not interested. It is crazy that places even 20 minutes away from an area can be so so different! I am so spoiled or really just so blessed! But I love it all the same because it is the Lord´s work and I've learned as we trust in Him we will be led to find His children who are prepared to hear the gospel! 

I think the biggest milagro from this week was Audrey´s baptism! WOW! It was incredible!! Let me start with the small miracle and then I will share experiences from her actual baptism. On Thursday night we were getting really really excited because Audrey´s baptism was supposed to be the next day... Friday. However, Audrey doesn´t have a phone so we can´t call her to make sure everything is ok ever because she just got to Spain 3 weeks ago. So we just pray that everytime we set a cita with her she will just show up... and so far that has worked. Well, we didn´t have an appointment with her on Thursday night because she had work. But we felt like we needed to go to the church. We weren´t exactly sure why. So we went there and found our recent convert, Gabriella, running towards us in the church with Audrey. We were so excited (and confused) to see them both. We smiled really big and asked them both how they were and Audrey said, "muy muy muy muy muy malo" (really really really really bad). WHAT???? Audrey is never sad or upset or anything! We were both very surprised! We came to find out that she had been crying basically all day because someone in her work was leaving for a vacation and she needed to cover their shifts and one of them happened to be right during the baptism. I started to cry right then because I knew that it was Satan trying to get her to not be baptized. But with someone as strong as Audrey that wasn´t going to happen!! We all went into a room and prayed together and right after the prayer we talked about changing the time of her baptism. We talked to Obispo and then changed the day to Sunday right after church! It was all perfect again. We shared scriptures together that night about how Heavenly Father has a perfect plan for us. It is a plan that we don´t always understand but we just need to be patient and trust in him. (Mosiah 4:9). 

Sunday was her actual baptism and it was AMAZING!!! Presidente and Hermana Dayton came and we had 65 members from our ward there (president counted). WOW! That never ever ever happens. Another miracle -changing the date to Sunday allowed all those members from our ward to be there. Hermana Lee and I sang I Know That My Redeemer Lives for her and at the end she looked up at us and smiled and did a big heart sign with her hands for us. SO sweet!!

Obispo baptized Audrey and the spirit was so strong. Alex, our recent convert, gave a talk about baptism and OH MY GOODNESS... It was INCREDIBLE. I have never heard a talk about baptism that was so well prepared. He is going to be such a good leader one day and missionary. Audrey was SO happy after her baptism. She was literally jumping up and down and just glowing with excitement and the spirit. I love her so much and I am so happy we were able to help her take a step closer to returning home to her Heavenly Father and Savior. She is now preparing to go to the temple on September 25th with the ward to do baptisms for the dead, along with our two other recent converts. I am so happy for her. 

We have had a few problems with people being obedient in this past week here in the mission. Which doesn't ever happen because El Faro is exactly obedient always. But sometimes people forget which is why we have the Atonement and repentance. Anyways, I just want to challenge you all to be exactly obedient to everything we are asked to do and live your life as if the Savior were right next to you everyday because He truly is. I am so grateful for this church and the opportunities we have to learn and grow and be better everyday. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week. 

xoxo, 

Hermana Eyring 

Random and funny things:

1. Helaman 10:4 is a really good scripture and you should all go read it

2. THE BYU GAME. (lots of exclamations here) WOW. It was so much fun. I think I already sent pictures. It was fun to be with lots of missionaries, members and investigators from all over Barcelona. ALSO... BYU won in case you were wondering. Guess who I found there?? Elder Bronson!!!! He is doing so great. We sang the fight song together with Hermana Dayton since nobody else knew it haha. I am so happy that He is in my zone. I will see him again tomorrow for zone enfoque. 

3. Don't ever go to doctors in Spain. I went this past week and she just made everything a whole lot worse. Luckily my mission president is a doctor so he gave me medicine and made everything better. 

4. Yesterday while I was running to catch the metro on intercambio, I saw Elder Merrill...remember - my travel companion. It was so fun to see him again. I have definitely missed having him as a zone leader from the CCM. Also standing next to him was his companion who I think he was on intercambios with too. He looked so familiar and then we finally figured out that He went to Viewmont and we had hung out a bunch of times before. Such a small world. His name is Elder Brog. Fun to see him again. 

Trying to explain my ingrown toenail pain to the doctor in Spanish

At the BYU basketball game - do you see Elder Bronson in the back right?!

Audrey's Baptism Day

Our wonderful bishop baptized Audrey

We had a huge support of ward members at the baptism to welcome Audrey to our amazing ward!