Pictures Serenity sent last week...

Week 3 in San Sebastian

Hello everyone!

How are you all doing??? I hope well, because we are doing just great up here in San Sebastian and the Lord is apparently not done with showing us miracles. We actually had a baptism this last weekend. It was quite out of the blue how everything happened...but it was a miracle for sure. Well, last Monday, we got a text from the AP´s that said that we were two people short of our goal for this month and that we needed to pray really hard for those that were on date for that weekend and they encouraged us to pray to know if there was anyone in our area that could be baptized that weekend. Well, when we read that, we were like, well, we can´t really help at all with that goal because we don´t have any investigators right now.  But then the girl that we had an appoinment with that night came to Hermana Farrell´s mind and she decided to look at her progress record. She was an old investigator that had just started meeting with us again. We found out that she had been taught everything multiple times and that there was really nothing left for us to do. So Hermana Farrell had the impression that we should invite her to be baptized for the upcoming weekend. So we went to our appointment that night and did just that. We talked for a while just before that about her testimony and went over all the baptism interview questions. She was ready and had a strong testimony about everything but she just said that there was something holding her back but that she didn´t know what it was. So we read a lot of really powerful scriptures with her and then she asked if we could pray. She wanted Hermana Farrell to pray but in the end we decided that they both should pray. So Dalleli prayed first and just asked God really simply if she should be baptized that weekend and if he would let her know what she should do. Then Hermana Farrell prayed and the spirit came really strongly and I had the strongest feeling that she would receive her answer during that prayer. When Hermana Farrell finished, Dalleli was crying and after a couple minutes of silence, she looked up and said that she wanted to be baptized on Saturday. It was so incredible and the spirit was so strong. Over the next couple days we had to overcome some hurtles because she woke up the next day and suddenly had some doubts again. But with lots of prayer and the help of our inspired district leaders, she was able to get the answer and feel good about getting baptized once again. Yesterday after her confirmation she told us that after she had come out of the water on Saturday, that all the worries and doubts that she had before were suddenly gone and she felt very peaceful and happy. And then she was so excited on Sunday because she said that she now had someone very special and important in her life and that was the Holy Ghost and she could have it all the time. She is seriously incredible and is just beaming from ear to ear all the time. She is 17 and just has such a strong testimony. I can´t believe how anxious the Lord is to bless us with such miracles right now. 

Well that is all I have time for right now. I will get back to you all next week with some pictures and stuff of all the great events. 

Love you all,

Hermana Eyre

Week 2 in San Sebastian

Hello Everyone!!!

I have a new niece!!! Her name is Anastasia Ruth Cundick and from the pictures I have seen of her, she is just a little beauty. I had a really great experience with that this last week. She was born on July 19th at 9:05 am. Well, on July 18th, when I was goind to bed at about 11:30, I had the strong impression that I should pray for my sister and for my incoming niece. I really had no idea when she was going to be born or anything about anything. I had that impression to pray about 12 or 13 hours before my sister went into labor. It is a real testimony to me that Heavenly Father is really looking out for all my family while I am out here. I just love how incredible the spirit is like that. My sister had a VBA2C...which basically means that she was able to have a natural birth after having 2 C-Sections. I am so proud of her and of my new niece!!!

Well, not much has happened here this week. Just teaching lots of people. We did contact this guy from Sweden this week and we taught him a couple times. He is pretty interested in religion and is just trying to get to know what people believe. He does want to find out if what we told him is true and is going to start reading the Book of Mormon. He only has another week here though before he goes back to Sweden, but hopefully if he is ready, he will get his answer now. But if not, the Gospel will find him again in the future. 

We have interviews with our new mission President in Bilbao tomorrow and then he and his wife are driving us back to San Sebastian because they want to get to know each of the areas in the mission. They are really really great people and I am so grateful to have been blessed with such great and inspired leaders to help us accomplish our purpose out here. 

Well...That is about all I have time for right now. I love you all and miss you tons! But I am already past my halfway point in my mission...so I will be seeing you all again before you know it.

Love always,

Hermana Eyre

Week 1 in San Sebastian

Hello all!!! From SAN SEBASTIAN!!!

 

This is seriously the most incredibly beautiful place and Heavenly Father knows me really well for sending me here. There are beautiful mountains, beautiful city and architecture, beautiful rivers, and an incredibly gorgeous beach. It is seriously incredible and I am in heaven. Best part.....The WEATHER!!! I am in heaven up here. It is not hot and not very humid!!! I love it!!! 

 

Well, my new companion is Hermana Farrell. She is from Los Angeles, California. She is really great and we get along just great. She also loves the outdoors as I do and so she goes running with me every morning and our Preparation Day´s are going to be fantastic because we can spend it outdoors and hiking and whatnot.

We have so far run a different place every day and I am just in heaven. 

 

The ward is seriously incredible. Really small but really incredible and friendly. We had a baptism this last Saturday and it was seriously a major miracle story. This guy, Miguel, contacted the Hermanas about 4 days before I got here. They met with him and he was ready to be baptized and just wanted to do everything else he needed to to be baptized. It was the fastest and most incredible instance of someone that was prepared. Not only that, but he is super firm in his testimony. He went through a crazy incredible trial the night before his baptism. He came home from his baptismal interview and his brother beat him up and his mom kicked him out of the house for good. All because he was getting baptized. He still came to his baptism on Saturday...we asked him if he was sure if he wanted to do it, and he said, "I am sure. I wouldn´t be here after all that if I wasn´t sure. I know it is true and I want to be baptized." It was seriously so incredible. He was crying during half the service. But he told us that he was just so happy that he was there. I got to play my violin again at the service and he may have cried a little bit more.

 

He was confirmed on Sunday and just was glowing and really happy. Then, during Relief Society, we had another incredible miracle happen. A member came in and told us that there were two investigators in the hall. We went out and sure enough there they were. It was incredible. This guy was from Peru and knew some members or had some contact with the church there. He had looked up things about the church online and said that he read lots of really bad things about the church...but that he is the type of person that likes to go to the source to find out for himself what the truth is. He had heard that there was a church here in San Sebastian but had no idea where it was. He was riding his bike one day and just came upon it, which is a miracle itself because it is kind of hidden. But he decided to come by on Sunday. He had a friend with him that was from France and she only spoke French. She wasn´t interested in the beginning, but when church got out and the members came and talked to her (there are several that speak French) she ended up being interested. We gave him a Book of Mormon and are going to meet with him this week and bring a Book of Mormon in French for her. It was a weekend full of really incredible miracles! God is so amazing and the church is so true!!!!

 

Well, that is really all I have time for right now...but I love you all and will talk to you next week!

 

Love,

Hermana Eyre

Week 16 in Hospitalet - and transferring to San Sebastian

Hello everyone!!!

How are you all!?!! Well, I am being transferred for the first time since I got to Spain and I am so nervous, sad, and excited all at the same time. Things were great here this last weekend. We had two baptisms of two of the most incredible people that I have ever met. Their names are Karen and Sebastian. The AP´s had been teaching them before and then they moved into our area about two weeks before they were baptized. It is really incredibly how much you can come to love people in such a short time. They really have truly incredible testimonies and really understand things of the Gospel, the scriptures, prayer, etc, etc, really well. I feel very privileged to know them and to have participated helping them take such an important step in their lives. President and Hermana Pace came to the baptism and I can´t even begin to describe how much I love them. You can literally feel love radiating from them to everyone around them, and they were so attent to greeting everyone. They give real, sincere compliments to everyone that they talk to. It is really inspiring and I am really looking forward to what they are going to bring to this mission for the next 3 years.

Well, this last weekend, I got to go on my first companionship exchange. I went to Sabadell to be with Hermana Goodman, and Hermana Rejon came to be with Hermana Stephenson. I was a little stressed to be doing a companionship exchange right when we were in the midst of playing for a baptism...but it turned out alright. It was super stressful...but it was good. I had such a great time with Hermana Goodman in Sabadell. She is a hard-working missionary and I sincerely hope that I get to be companions with her.  It also prepared me for the news that I was getting transferred. In going and working in a different area, I became really excited to be able to go to a new area and get to know new people. We all found out while I was there who was getting transferred and whatnot. I am headed off to San Sebastian. It is up north!!! I am way excited to be able to be escaping the heat a little and apparently it is absolutely gorgeous up there!

I am really excited! I leave in about 2 hours.

Well, even though the baptism was a little stressful because things weren´t all the way planned out on everyone´s part, it went really well and was fantastic in the end. The water for the font wasn´t heated so they were baptized in cold water...but at least it was super hot outside, so it kind of made up for it. Hermana Pace is a fantastic pianist and was able to play the piano for us last minute when we asked her when she arrived. I somehow was assigned to play the piano without knowing it and I really can´t play...so she really saved me. I was also able to play my violin at the baptism. I just am so grateful that I brought it with me. It is such a foolproof way to bring the spirit into a service.

In the end, I am so incredibly sad to leave this area because I really love the people here so so much!!!! But I know that there are more people to find in other parts of Spain and I am ready to go find them.

One last really great experience I want to share before running off. So there is this recent convert that we have been working with and who helps us with tons of our visits. He has had such a hard time with not smoking since his baptism and has relapsed several times. He also had to wait before he could get the priesthood. He was really sad about this on several occasions, because our two converts from the last two transfers really wanted him to baptize them...but he couldn´t because he couldn´t get the priesthood. So at the beginning of this last transfer, we made a deal with him that we would never cross the street at the crosswalks when the light was red if he would promise not to smoke at all. It seems like a very strange thing to be making a deal like that...but it really made a difference. At first he didn´t believe that we were holding up our end of the deal and so he kept relapsing, but finally, he realized that we really were waiting at every red crosswalk, even when we were in a serious hurry. This really had an effect on him and he really made the commitment to quit. He received the priesthood about a week and a half ago.

When we were in sacrament this past Sunday, I did shed a tear or two when he stood up and was able to help the other priesthood holders in the passing of the Sacrament. His life has literally transformed in the time that I have been here. He was baptized about two weeks before I got here to Hospitalet, and everything about him has changed. He glows and there are several members who have mentioned within the last week that they thought he had years in the church. His countenance and his heart have truly changed.

Being a missionary is absolutely incredible. There is no better feeling than to watch people´s lives be transformed by the Gospel.

I love you all. Talk to you soon from San Sebastian.

Love,

Hermana Eyre

Week 15 in Hospitalet

Hello friends and Family!!!

I am just sitting here in the Locutorio on Preparation day and actually can stand the weather today. We finally received some much needed rain yesterday after about two months of it not raining and just getting hotter and hotter. This last week has just been ridiculously hot and humid. We walk outside and within seconds, there is sweat dripping down our backs and our faces. I am definitely not a huge fan of humidity...but I am incredibly grateful for the short little cool-off we had yesterday. Today...the temperatures are heading back up.

Anyways...things here have again been pretty slow in the finding new people to teach...but we are going to have a baptism this Saturday. The Assistants were teaching this family that was living in the other Hermana´s area that were about to move into their area, but their housing fell through and now they are moving into our area, so they are going to be attending our ward. They are really incredibly prepared. One is a girl named Karen. She is 17. The other is her older brother named Sebastian and he is 20. We are really excited for them and are so glad that the Assistants were able to teach them so much. The understanding of these investigators of Gospel principles is really incredible. If you would, pray for them this week that everything will work out and that they can take this crucial step in their lives.

This coming week...Monday...is already transfers again. I swear that I wrote that like two days ago! Time is flying even with all the heat. I have no idea if I am going to be staying here for one more transfer or getting moved somewhere else. Really anything could happen. I could potentially get moved, but I still have one more transfer that it is kind of likely that I would stay here. And...we have a new mission President now. His name is President Pace. We were able to meet him and his wife this last Saturday in a zone conference. They are really nice and we are excited to see where the next couple months are going to lead us as a mission.

Well, that is about all I have to tell....except for the fun little fact that Spain won the European Cup in Soccer last night for any of you that have any interest in Soccer! There was quite the party going on last night everywhere and every apartment was playing "We are the Champions". It was great fun.

Happy 4th of July to all you in the states this week as well. Make sure to celebrate it for me! I love the United States of America!!!

I love you all and hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Eyre