Llamado a Servir en España: 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