Every moment a missionary...APROVECHAR!

Mis queridos amigos y familia, 

This week was definitely a crazy one! On monday night (last week) we found out we had to go spend the night in Barc in order to be up and ready for our specialized training on Tuesday morning. We stayed with the sisters in Barc 2 (Hermana Fenn and Stapley) which was really fun to be all together again since I had spent so much time with them in Barc! Then on Tuesday morning we went to our specialized training which happens every three months with President and Sister Dayton and the Ayudantes. It was probably one of the most incredible meetings I have ever been in! I learned so so so much! There were two main things that I especially loved... Hermana Dayton talked all about finding joy and happiness in life no matter what the circumstances are. She told us the story about her first husband passing away and how she went to a conference a few days after it happened and the theme was how to stay happy. The man giving the talk said that you just have to say "that´s great" after every thing that happens that seems to be bad and then think about all the reasons why it COULD be great. At first Hermana Dayton was a little frustrated with this... how could losing her husband be a "that´s great" kind of thing? But then she decided to try it. She had a big family council with her kids and ever since that day that has been something they have always said in their family! Also, "the struggle keeps us strong". I love both of those! Hermana McWhorter and I this past week really put them to the test and guess what? It works. At first it was kind of a silly game and everytime we ran into missionaries and something bad went wrong we would kind of jokingly say "that´s great". But then we would all laugh and think about WHY it is great and it actually turns out to be a blessing instead of a burden! I would like to challenge you all to do this! It might seem a little weird at first and you might think it is kind of silly. But if you stick with it I promise it will help so so much! 

President talked about being a consecrated missionary. We honestly must be willing to give up everything and anything and follow the Savior. I love how he "disected" the phrase... "come, follow me". Come: That is the sacrifice part. As missionaries we choose to sacrifice or give up a year and a half to two years of our lives, our families, friends, phones, school, sports, music, etc. and go serve somewhere we've most likely never been. That´s the easy part. The next step is FOLLOW ME. That is where true consecration comes in. Are we willing to give Him everything we have in following Him or are we just going to "show up " for those years? The choice is completely up to us. And this isn´t just for missionaries but for ALL of us. We have to choose to make sacrifices everyday and then CHOOSE to follow the Savior and give Him everything. Plant BOTH feet in His work and strive to be a humble, faithful and obedient disciple of Him every single day! It is hard. But it is the best thing we could possibly do! President told a cute story about a family where the dad was trying to get the little boy to get in the car and go to church but He was playing with His toys and didn´t want to leave. The dad said to his young son, "son, put the toys down and come". The son put the toys down and looked up at his dad. The father said, "now, follow me". I love that little image in my mind and it is exactly how it works with our Heavenly Father and Savior. They are asking us to "put the toys down" and simply "come" and then to FOLLOW them. As we strive to do this I know we will be blessed and we will find so much more joy than we would have if we kept "playing with the toys". 

On Wednesday we went back up to Barc for a conference with Elder Christensen, President Dyches, and Elder Obando. It was absolutely incredible! I loved learning and hearing the testimonies of these incredible men called of God. I loved learning so much about the Holy Ghost and the role he plays in our lives... especially in missionary work. The Holy Ghost speaks to our mind and our heart but we must connect the two of them in order for anything to happen. First it starts with a thought. Then second it is confirmed with a feeling. Third... we must choose to act on it! I love that and know that it is true and we will be able to accomplish the will of the Lord as we follow and live by this pattern. After the conference with all the missionaries we went out to eat at my favorite restaurant "Hollyburg". We are basically teaching the lady who works there and she takes a whole photoshoot of us everytime we go because she loves the missionaries! It´s so cute :) Then we all went back to the church for a fireside that night with members and investigators! It was amazing and the spirit was so strong! I GOT TO SEE MELANY! That was one of the highlights of my whole week! I have missed her so much and it has only been a week! She is doing so good and I am so grateful for her example to me! After the conference we went and stayed in my old piso in Barc because it was too late to go back to tarragona. It was really great to be back with all of my old "companions" again in Barcelona! But it also made me miss Tarragona.

On Friday we had a MIRACLE!!! We had a lesson with John (one of our investigators from Nigeria). He LOVES learning about the gospel but has been kind of scared to accept a fecha to be baptized. Hermana McWhorter and I had really studied and prepared for John in our morning studies but we were a little nervous going into the lesson because we didn´t have time to do a practica. We taught all about Lesson 3.. the gospel of Jesus Christ. At the end we extended the invitation for Him to be baptized on December 5th and he was really excited! He basically bore his testimony to us about faith and baptism right after we challeged him! It was such a neat experience! The spirit was so strong and I am so excited to help Him prepare for his baptism! He also said the closing prayer in the lesson and my favorite part was when he empasized the part, "that I may know that I need to be bapTIZED". I loved it so much! He is so prepared and is such a good example to everyone around Him! Also, our cute 17 year old investigator, Alejandra, just told us that she wants to get baptized and had a dream about serving a mission!!!!! I am so excited for her!!!! 

Hermana McWhorter and I have really had to put Hermana Dayton´s counsel to the test this week as we came back from all of our conferences on Thursday and we were finally home and ready to work in our area! Then all the sudden my hip started hurting REALLY bad. I wasn´t too surprised because basically every week since I got on my mission I have had some sort of health problem jaja :) So I didn´t really worry too much about it. Then we got to Saturday and it was hurting REALLY bad that I couldn´t really walk. So we called president and he "confined us to the dugeon" (not really... he told us to stay in our super cute piso for 48 hours). I literally started to cry on the phone! I was so excited to start to finally get to work in my new area and now we can´t even leave piso?! But I feel like this whole week taught me a very very very important lesson. Just like the phrase from a few conferences ago, "Every member a missionary" we must also train our minds to think "Every MOMENT a missionary". Sometimes it´s hard to do. We think sometimes that it is just a year and a half or a two year sacrifice. But really it is giving our whole lives to this work! The Lord needs each of us everyday in everyway... with or without the chapa. I haven´t really been able to work in my area for the past two weeks because of everything going on with moving into a new piso, conferences in Barc, specialized trainings, and health problems. BUT I think it was meant to be this way so that Heavenly Father could teach me this important lesson. I was so sad that I felt like I "couldnt be a missionary" for the past two weeks. But that isn´t true. I am not just a missionary when I am in my assigned area... I am a missionary at all times! Even when I am in conferences, even when I am in Barc, even when I am grocery shopping on preparation day, even when I am stuck in piso and can´t get off the couch, and even when I come home and go back to BYU. EVERY moment a missionary! I am so grateful for this short time here in Spain to be able to give absolutely 100% to my Heavenly Father and Savior but I really hope that I can try my hardest to not let it stop once I am finished. I know that as we are constantly looking for ways to do as our Savior would do that we will see milagros cada dia because this truly is His work and we are just the instruments. We just need to turn our will over and give everything to Him. I know that is true and I know that as we "aprovechar de cada momento" (Take advantage of every moment and don't wast a single minute!) we will experience greater happiness than ever before! 

I hope you all have a fantastic week! Try to always stay happy and positive during hard times and look for the Hand of God in every moment!  Find someone to help or love or serve or share the gospel with! Always be striving to do the Lord´s will and I promise you will be blessed for it! I love this work and I LOVE being a missionary with my whole heart! 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I am so grateful for each and every one of you and how you have all touched my life and made me better! 

Love, 

Hermana Eyring

Back in Barcelona - so good to see Obispo and Angela!
Hermana McWhorter and I were both trained in this ward.

Eating at my favorite restaurant - "Hollyburg"

My Barcelona sisters I miss so much!
Hermana Larsen is training Hermana Iverson.

My Tarragona District with the Barcelona Sisters
after the conference. I love my District!

I was so happy to see Audrey and Melany! I love them
and miss them so much!

Eating Spanish Kebabs for my first time - not so good!

Back in the city

Home Sweet Home - so fun to be back in my first piso having a sleepover
with these sisters I will forever love!

Lunch with our investigator Alejandra
and members, Maribel and her son Jorge

We "heart attacked" Maribel's door after she had
a hard day!

Dinner from the Philippines with a less active family. 

Our cute piso ready for Christmas!

Tami is a darling member of the ward - she is 19
and getting ready to serve a mission!

We made Mom's Taco Soup for dinner

Noche de Hogar with our investigator Steven and
members: Jose Antonio, Carmen, and Marta

!Bienvenidos a Tarragona!

Dear family and friends, 

Well I am a little sad right now because I just typed up the most wonderful email probably ever in the world and the whole thing just got deleted. I honestly am SO sad right now. It talked all about what has been happening and my area and how much I LOVE IT HERE! But since I just spent the last hour typing that one up... this one will have to be really short. I am so so sorry! 

I am so happy here in Spain! I love it so much! I feel so blessed to be here! After 3 days of living in a hotel we finally got to move into our piso! I love our piso! It is so fun and beautiful and brand new! Tarragona is absolutely beautiful!!! It is a cute little town with mountains, the ocean and Roman ruins! It is gorgeous! PLUS the missionary work and the members are incredible! They basically do ALL the work! I really think missionaries are only here to help mentor them... which is great :) We don´t buy groceries basically because the members ask to feed us for every medio dia and for every dinner! The members have already planned to do a Thanksgiving dinner for us and are starting to ask about Christmas dinners! I can´t wait! I love them all already and it´s only been a week! I feel so very blessed! They LOVE doing missionary work and plan lots of activities every week so that their friends can learn about the church! It is just perfect! 

We do lots of traveling here in Tarragona but I love it and even though we have to go on hour long bus rides sometimes, Heavenly Father always provides ways for us to keep working and not waste His time.

We had district meeting this past week and the Elders in our district are Elder Muncy (District leader), Elder Cook, Elder Streadbeck and Elder Parker. They are all great Elders and work very hard! I am excited to work all together to accomplish our district goals! Hermana McWhorter is the cutest! I love being companions with her and I am already learning so much from her! It has been really weird to be in a two person piso since I came from a 4 but I love it because we can get so much done and we learn so much more together! It is really incredible! 

We have lots of investigators right now... they are basically all from Nigeria! We have a whole pool of Nigerians to help :) It is really fun! They all speak English though so we have to translate in church for them. It is quite the adventure (I don´t think my spanish is quite up to par for that one yet haha). They are all doing great and progressing wonderfully! I will tell you more about them next week! I will send lots of pictures tonight :) I hope you can all try to enjoy Tarragona with me through these pictures!

Thanks for all you are doing! You are all such great examples to me and I look up to every single one of you! I am so grateful for this wonderful work of the Lord that we are all involved in together! Just remember that we are ALL missionaries with or without the chapa! Just forget yourself and go to work! Remember that every soul is precious to our Heavenly Father and it is our job to go out and help bring His children back home to Him. DON¨T WASTE A SINGLE MINUTE!!! 

I love you all! Have a great week! Happy almost Thanksgiving! I am so thankful for all of you!

Love, 

Hermana Eyring 

Meet my wonderful companion...Hermana McWhorter

Missionary work during Medio Dia

Our hotel we called home for 3 days

Lunch with Gloria and her family (investigators and members)

Companionship study time

First Day at Church in Tarragona

Celebrating Vera's birthday at English Class

Preparation Day exploring beautiful Tarragona

On the Boardwalk above the beautiful beach - of course we
followed the White Handbook and didn't even go on the beach!

I don't think I could ever serve in a more gorgeous place

Ancient Roman Amphitheater

Sightseeing with Sara -  a member in our ward from Chile!

The cute streets of Tarragona

What a view!

"Does somebody need a hug?"

My dear family and friends!

Wow, what a whirlwind of a week it has been here in Spain! I am not

quite sure where to begin... Wow just thinking about it makes my brain

and my heart start racing. Deep breaths... Here we go!

So the title of my email "does somebody need a hug?" Comes from one of

my favorite movies and if you can name it you will get 10 points and a

picture of me eating a yummy pastry from Spain for you (since I can't send it to you)!

This week was FILLED with hugs! A lot of people were struggling

this week and after about every cita, Hermana Larsen and I walked out

and would say "she just needed a hug!!" First Jen. She is still trying

to juggle her life with her three autistic kids and find a new place

to live. We went over there 2 times this week and each time we brought

her something nice and hugged her and shared scriptures with her.

After each time she was just BEAMING with light and so happy! Even

when someone's life is hard if you can show them love they will begin

to open up and their heart will be softened enough to see that

everything will be ok.

On Wednesday we picked up 2 HUGE bags of baby clothes from a member,

Maryann, to give to our investigator, Yahaira, for her new baby. We

also had a cake in our hands for her. We called her on our way over

and told her we would be there in a few minutes with BUNCHES of baby

clothes. There was no response. I said, "todo esta bien Yahaira" to

which she replied, "es que... Mi bebé murió". We were NOT expecting

that AT ALL! Wow! It was so sad! We dropped all the baby stuff off at

the Elders house and went and just hugged she and her mom for about an

hour as they just sobbed in our arms. The doctors still have no idea

why the baby died but he passed away 1 day before her due date and it

was going to be her first little child. She showed us sweet little

pictures of her dear Kirian once he was born and videos of her holding

him and just sobbing. I sat there and couldn't help but just hold her

in my arms and cry with her. It was one of the saddest experiences I

have ever been through. The neatest thing to me though was that as I

was holding her she turned to us and said through her tears, "but it's

ok. I know that God has a plan for me and for my baby boy. I know he

is a sweet little angel and he is with God right now. I know that

there are no coincidences in life and I need to learn from, this

experience". I was AMAZED at her testimony and positive attitude -

and she hasn't even been baptized yet! She is such a huge example for me! 

We shared a short scripture with her, our testimonies and then prayed. 

I am so grateful for Yahaira and for her example. But in this moment I 

was most grateful for the plan of salvation that I could testify to Yahaira 

that everything would be ok and she will get to be with her sweet Kirian one day! 

I know this is true and I am so so so grateful for the testimony I have of our

Father's Plan for us!

We had lots of lessons with our investigator Jennifer this past

week... They have us come over every morning that we are available to

teach them :) I love them so so much!! This week she also just broke

down crying because she was so stressed out with everything that she

has to do with school and all her tests. We were able to hug her and

love her and pray with her. Afterwards she felt so so much better. I

am so grateful for the power of prayer and the spirit that comforts us

when we pray.

It was Hermana Fernandez's birthday this past week and she was having

a really hard time staying positive and being happy with her first

birthday away from home. BUT we made it really special for her and

helped her to feel loved and important all day (cough cough... I LOVE

BIRTHDAYS!!!). She was so happy and basically... She just needed a hug!

A lot of people had to go home early from the mission this past week

and they were missionaries that I was really close to. It was really

really heartbreaking to see them go. They are INCREDIBLE missionaries

with testimonies so strong! I love them all so much and I am grateful

for their willingness to turn to their Savior at all times in life

especially now. I know the Atonement is real and it works PERFECTLY! I

know that He loves each and every one of us and He will always always

ALWAYS accept us back into His arms if we just turn to Him. That is the best 

kind of hug and it's there for all of us, all the time!

Then to end the week and top it all off... 

Well, we got TRANSFER CALLS!!!!!!  so we were all super

excited for transfer calls because we knew for a fact that none of us

were leaving! Then we got the call around 10:43pm!!! Ahhhh! Our

district leader said, "well there are some pretty big changes!" We

thought he was joking.... But he wasn't. I AM GETTING TRANSFERRED!!!!

After 4 of the most amazing months in Barcelona I am getting

transferred. I could not believe it! Also I would be leaving one of my

best friends and companion, Hermana Larsen! It was honestly so sad. I

couldn't even finish the phone call before I started bawling. I

thought I liked transfers and change before this but once I was the

one actually leaving... Well in the words of Hermana Larsen, "it's the

pits"! I started calling all my members and recent converts who I love

like family and telling them that I would be going. Sunday was REALLY

hard... Especially when bishop announced it in church. But somehow I

survived that day but Monday was what really killed me... When we went

around saying bye to everyone and then they did a surprise farewell

Noche de Hogar that night for me. It was so sweet of them! Melany, my best friend

investigator, was even there and it made my whole night!!! They all

gave me sweet little gifts and it was so thoughtful of them! I cried

the whole way home after saying bye to them... Especially Melany! That

was definitely one of the hardest goodbyes I ever had to do especially

since she will probably get baptized soon and I won't be there :( but

I know that the Lord has a perfect plan for each of us and being

transferred is part of the plan. I really am so grateful for my time

in Barcelona and I will miss it SO SO much!! The good news is that my

new area is....... TARRAGONA!!!!!!!! I actually just barely got here

and it is GORGEOUS!!!! It is a little bit of a city but mostly pueblos

which I am SO excited about! The best part is that you look to your

right and you have the beautiful beach and then to the left you have

the mountains! Apparently we have ancient ruins here where the apostle

Paul taught too! I can't wait!! Everyone says the ward is

INCREDIBLE and they are always helping with missionary work. My new

companion is Hermana Mcwhorter and I am so excited to work with her.

She is so so so cute and reminds me a lot of cute Tia Zwick! Right now

basically.... We are homeless :) haha our piso is brand new and under

construction a little bit so every night is a new adventure of finding

a hotel to stay at! Yay! This will be fun ;) it was probably the

hardest thing EVER to say goodbye to my sweet dear Hermana Larsen a

few hours ago. We laughed and cried and cried some more at the train

station, but I'm excited to work hard here in my new area with my new

companion AND the best part is that we will be back in Barcelona next week

for a big conference with Elder Christensen! I can't wait!!

This week has definitely been a learning experience. But a learning

experience of how to truly love as the Savior loved. He has his arms

open wide everyday to us and we just need to choose to come to Him!

I know He is there for us and I am so grateful for the Atonement in my

life that allows me to become better everyday. These past few days

have been pretty sad but I read a scripture today that I loved... Alma

37:44-45. Through The gospel of Jesus Christ that we are so blessed to

have in our lives we can have ETERNAL BLISS. Yes, we will have hard

times and we might get really sad every once and awhile. BUT I know that we

can always pick ourselves right back up again because we have this

eternal happiness in our lives... Our Savior Jesus Christ! I know that

is true con todo de mi corazón!

I love you all! Have a great week! Pray for the homeless Hermanas ;)

Love,

Hermana Eyring

Happy Birthday Hermana Fernandez!

Thank you Grandma for the package - I love it!

Goodbye Barcelona

Love all these awesome Hermanas

Goodbye to Susana and Audrey

Medio Dia with Giancarlo and Jennifer

We went on a hike with Melany and Wendy and her family

Rosa and Angela

The awesome Relief Society Presidency in my Barcelona ward

Susana and Jala - I will miss them so much!

Monica, Luis and their sweet family

We spent Preparation Day with Susana and Angela at Park Guell

Limber, Sandra and their family

Goodbye to my first "piso" and to my amazing companion. I will miss her so much!

His work, His will, His way, His timing...

Hola bon dia! 

That would be some Catalan for everyone :)  Catalan is definitely very different from Spanish but it´s fun! How is everyone doing? I would love to hear some fun missionary stories from all of you if you get a chance to send me some :) Missionary work is honestly the best thing in the whole entire world! I love being a part of it and the best part of it is that we don´t have to wear a chapa to be missionaries... we are ALL missionaries no matter where we are in the world! I hope you are all finding ways to be missionaries wherever you are! I LOVE being a missionary! I love this work with my whole heart!! 

This week has been absolutely INCREDIBLE! Why? I GOT TO BE A MISSIONARY AGAIN!!!!! I am 100% healthy and back on my feet! I cannot tell you how happy I am! Literally I have been skipping and singing everywhere because I am just so happy to be back out and working! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!! Melany is probably my favorite person EVER. She is one of our investigators who we thought would be taken away from us along with everyone else (so about the emergency district meeting... it was about our area and how we have to teach ONLY in our assigned areas and so some of our investigators got taken because apparently they were just barely outside of our area). But anyways, Melany we found out is moving into our area!!! We took her out to ice cream this past week and then shared scriptures about feeling the holy ghost. She looked at us and told us how she knows that everything we say is true! WOW! I love her so much! Then after about 45 minutes of the lesson she goes, "what else are you doing tonight? You two are my best friends and like my little sisters! I love the work that you do and I want to help you!" ok... we told her we had to go help one of our investigators (Jen) move her house and she said, "great! I will come help too". Then we went to the church after and she said, "I would really love to hear more about the Book of Mormon and what you believe! I want to know for myself!" I honestly don´t think there is anyone who is more prepared for the gospel than Melany! She is amazing!! We taught her lesson one that night and it was the most powerful lesson ever! She LOVED it! It was a little strange because she asked us to do it in english because she needs to practice her english (even though it is already perfect) and it was SO hard to teach in english! Which I guess is a good thing because it means my spanish is improving... right? But somehow the spirit was able to help us know exactly what to say to touch her heart and it showed me once again that this is THE LORD's work and not ours... we really are just instruments and He will allow things to happen in His own timing. 

I went on an intercambio this week with Hermana Fenn. She is so sweet and I love her so much! I am so grateful for her and her example to me. This intercambio was REALLY hard because I DID NOT want to leave my best friend... Hermana Larsen! We truly are best friends and it makes the missionary work so much more fun when you are best friends with your companion. BUT I was really brave and I went on the intercambio to Hermana Fenn´s area. It was also really hard because they don´t have any investigators right now and Hermana Fenn is extremely sick right now. So we went out and contacted all night and then the whole next morning. It was a very long intercambio but I learned a lot. I learned that we don´t need to have any fear and we just need to go up and talk to everyone! Hermana Fenn couldn´t talk cause she was so sick so basically I just ran up to everyone I saw and with a huge smile on my face started talking to them about the gospel, invited them to hear more and if they didn´t want to listen... no pasa nada... I just moved right on to the next person! it helped me realize once again that the Lord prepares His children and we just have to trust in HIS WILL and HIS TIMING and do our part and He will do the rest! 

We had a HALLOWEEN party this week! jaja... it makes me laugh every time I think about it! We planned it for Saturday night but then realized everyone would be fasting. So we changed it to Friday. We called the whole ward and barrio 3 (the other ward right next to ours) and then we threw together this fun activity. On Saturday night, 7pm rolled around and NOT A SINGLE PERSON showed up.  So we started calling and texting and contacting everyone we could find! Finally about 8:30pm people started showing up POR FIN!!! jaja.It was a good lesson learned... if you would like to have a party with spaniards... especially mormon spaniards you have to tell them to all come at a certain time and then don´t plan on them coming until an hour and a half later! jaja :) We ended up having a great time though! All the hermanas were "ladybugs"(we wore black and white polka dot shirts with a red or pink skirt) We played lots of fun games and then had a spiritual message at the end. We even found two new investigators from it so that was good! 

We are teaching a girl named Jennifer right now! She was taught awhile ago but wasn´t quite ready for the gospel... but now... SHE IS! I am so excited for her! Her boyfriend is a member of the church but hasn´t been for a long time. But now we have them reading the Book of Mormon together everyday and then came to church on Sunday (they even got all dressed up for it) It was the cutest thing ever! They asked us if we could come over everyday to teach them more about the gospel! jaja-.at first we thought they were joking so we laughed but then they looked at us all concerned and were like "no... we are serious. We want you to come everyday... well whenever you have time". They are the sweetest people! Jennifer is 19 so it is really fun to teach her since it is just like we are all best friends! I LOVE being a missionary!!! 

I am so grateful for this wonderful work of our Heavenly Father! I am grateful for the opportunity I have to serve as a full time missionary! It really is so wonderful to be able to focus on sharing the gospel 24/7. There is not another time in my life when this will happen... I don´t want to take a single moment for granted. I know this gospel is true. I know the church has been restored to the earth... the mismo church that Jesucristo established when he was here en la tierra. Se que por mi mismo y con todo mi corazon que estas cosas son verdadero y quiero compartirlo con todo de España! I love you all and hope you will all take a moment to think this week how you can be a better missionary! Remember that Heavenly Father loves you and always KEEP SMILING :) 

Love, 

Hermana Eyring 

ps. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY :) Just in case anyone forgot! 

Vanessa, Abinadi, Shasa and Julian -
She is the RS President and they make the best food for us

Our ward takes such good care of us!

A yummy French meal with a cheese cooker 

Halloween with missionaries from both wards

This is my beautiful area!

Medio Dia

Lunch with Trini and Ines

Our ghost sugar cookies we made

Hermana Fernandez, Hermana Stapley, Hermana Fenn,
Hermana Eyring, Hermana Larsen, Hermana Bastidas

Happy Halloween!!!

Funny Halloween games

"Ladybugs"

Mis abuelos in Spain - Esther and Pedro

Intercambio with Hermana Fenn

Our fun Halloween activity

Look Audrey! You are right here in Spain with me!