Week 1 in SPAIN

Hey everyone!!!

I am in Spain! It is a little bit surreal and doesn´t really feel like I am in Spain because we basically never get to leave the MTC. It is really hard being back in the MTC and spending all day in class instead of out teaching people. It is crazy. I honestly am not a huge fan of the food here...there is not much option in this tiny lunchroom that we have and everything (main course) is potatoes or something fried or something with salsa and everything is cooked in tons of oil. I have been basically living off of fruit and yogurt for a week because I can´t stand the food. This is amazing...I have never considered myself to be a picky eater...but it certainly sounds like I am by all my experiences on the mission so far. I just like to eat healthy food though because I feel super gross and sick when I eat the unhealthy food that is prepared for us (all the places that I have been). You know...it is just cafeteria food! Not very awesome. Restaurants...that is a different story...I hardly ever hate things at restaurants or that I make myself...because they are made to a higher quality and are not made for the masses...so naturally they are a bit healthier. Anyways...enough of that. 

The MTC here is absolutely gorgeous because it is literally on the temple grounds. I have been seeing some of the most amazing sunsets and sunrises of my life here.

As for the first week here...it has been really hard. My companion was sick and we had to miss the first day of proseliting in the park, which also meant that I missed a few days of exercise and I have had a really hard time having a positive attitude about anything here. Exercise is so important!!!! It makes all the difference in the stress of being a missionary. It is crazy. But I finally found a sister I think that likes to run and she does happen to be going to Barcelona as well. Hopefully we will be companions in the future. We have about 15 sisters that came over last week...and it is crazy to me that only 2 of us like to run or really exercise hard. But oh well...at least there is that.

I don´t know how much else I have to share except that we did get a special surprise trip to the park, so we ended up getting to go and contact people. It was a really interesting experience and way different from Utah. People definitely are not as friendly here and will very blatently ignore you when you talk to them. It is a bit of a different experience. But we did run into a couple people that we were able to share a little with...but they were not Spaniards interestingly enough. One was from Columbia, another from Peru, and two from Malaysia that are living in London. It was a good experience nonetheless and the park is absolutely gorgeous and huge!!! Very comparable to many huge parks that I am sure you all know the names of. 

I am excited to be able to sign these residency papers in a week and get out of the MTC. I want to be teaching people everday!!! It is hard to be in class!!! 

Anyways...I better go now....time is up.

Love you all,

Hermana Eyre

ARRIVED IN SPAIN!!!!

Well, Hello all!!! I am finally in Spain!!!...although not my mission yet. I am in the Madrid MTC and will be here for two weeks. It is going to be quite strange having to be on MTC time again. We have to stay here for the two weeks until we have our interview with some part of the Spanish government to establish residency or something. MTC time is awful and I never have felt so tired in my life as I did in the MTC in Provo. Plus now we have jet lag! Ridiculous!  But it is absolutely gorgeous. The MTC is literally right next to the temple. We can pretty much reach out the window and touch the temple. 

 

But I just thought I would let you all know that I am here and safe. Not much to tell besides that. All I know is that I am ready to go to sleep. 4 more hours!!!!

 

Well I love you all and will talk to you next week. 

 

Love,

Hermana Eyre

Week 6 in the Provo, Utah mission

Hey everyone!!!! Guess what???? I received my visa way sooner than I thought I would!!! I should be leaving in the next week or so I think. I don't have my travel plans yet unfortunately though...I have no idea yet what day I am leaving. I am super stoked though. I am sad that I am going to be leaving the awesome trio companionship that I am in...but I am stoked to get to Spain and figure out this different Spanish thing.
This week was pretty hard for us...we did not have as much success as last week...but we fasted yesterday and started seeing the blessings immediately. It is amazing how powerful that law is and the blessings we can receive.

I got to have lunch with my mom, stepdad, and little brother on Saturday...and it was soo soo good to see them. Plus we had awesome food. We get to have lunch with my dad today as well...I am stoked. I won't be seeing them for another 15 months, so I am glad I got to see them before I take off to Spain.

Anyways...this is all I have time for...I love you all and hope that the next post you see will find me in Spain.

Love you all,
Hermana Eyre

Week 5 in the Provo, Utah mission

Hello everyone!!!

I miss you all so much but I really am enjoying my time here in the Provo mission. It is really opening my eyes to a lot of things. As for the news on the visa...It is a ways out. It sounds like it will be more than a month now. Probably end of March or early April....but we will see. I am loving my new companionship. The dynamics are a little strange while teaching since there are 3 of us...but we all get along really well and are teaching the Gospel to many awesome people. I don't know any of the people we are teaching really well yet...but I will update that more later when I do know. 

 

I had a very interesting Sunday yesterday....I ate way too many tacos and never want to eat another taco again...and I also ate Cow Tongue. Something I honestly never would have expected to eat in Provo, Utah. My sister tried that on her mission in Bulgaria but I didn't think I would try it on mine. It was pretty good at first...but by the end I wanted to puke because they just gave us too much food. I also tried Menudo last transfer...which is the lining of a cow's stomach...and that stuff is seriously disgusting...at least the one that I tried...it was basically fat and was just....well....yuck. But other than that...we have been fed really well here and the members take good care of us. 

 

Teaching the Gospel is seriously amazing and I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to witness these miracles and watch people's lives just drastically change. The hispanic culture is seriously incredible as well. Last night we ate with a family that seriously does not have the money to feed us. Both he and his wife don't have a job and they were not eating because they didn't have enough to feed them and us and their 7 kids. They live in a tiny little trailer with their 7 kids...but are seriously incredibly happy people. We are going to share the Gospel with them and hopefully they will recognize how much it will bless their lives. I just really admire people like that who don't even know you but they are willing to give you the shirt off their back. It amazes me. 

 

Anyways...I am all out of time. 

 

I love you all and hope you are all having the time of your lives like I am down here!

 

Love,

Hermana Eyre

Week 4 in the Provo, Utah mission

Hey all!

I am way short on time...but here it goes. We had our first investigator baptized this last Saturday. It was a 10 year old boy who was just so ready to be baptized. We have another 10 year old boy that we are teaching that is also preparing for a date. But as for the first one, we are really excited because his foster brother had sat in on a few lessons and on our last lesson with the 10 year old, the foster brother asked if we could start teaching him. We are super stoked about it. He is a 16 year old boy who is awesome and I think is really ready for the gospel in his life. I am very sad though because I will not be able to teach him. I am getting transferred on Wednesday to another area in the mission. I am super sad to leave and not be leaving to go to Spain. I have only been with these people for 4 weeks and I love them all so much! I am not ready to go to a new area already! But again...I guess the Lord knows what he is doing better than I do.

I am going to be in a companionship of 3 this time. It will be interesting to figure out the dynamics of that while teaching.

This last week has been a little hard on me and on my companion. I have just been having a hard time emotionally and my companion has been in a lot of pain for the last 5 days. She hasn't been able to sleep much at all because of a displaced rib that she got in high school that is now causing some problems. I hope that she starts feeling better soon. I went out with a fellowshipping sister last night while she stayed at the place we live with our landlords because she can't sit up for more than 15 or 20 minutes. I really hope she starts feeling better soon because this is going to be her last transfer and she is really sad that her mission is almost over! Anyways, I have no time left. Maybe I will have more time for a longer update next week.

My new address is:
722 E. 1600 S.
Orem, UT 84057

Send me letters or whatever! I want to hear from you all and I love you all so much!

Love,
Hermana Eyre

Some extra pictures Rennie sent in the mail...

Week 3 in the Provo, Utah mission

Hey everyone!!!! Another week just blown by!!! Still no news on the visa unfortunately....Hopefully this week though cuz transfers are coming up next week and I don't want to move just to have to move a few days later. Things down here are going pretty well. We have had to drop a couple investigators though because they are completely ready for baptism...but just won't take the step to just do it. 

 

We have a little boy named Jimmy that we have been teaching. We have been waiting for the adoption stuff to happen so that he can get baptized and they finally came through...so he is getting baptized on Saturday. He is 10. He knows an incredible amount about the Gospel and is super excited to follow Jesus Christ. 

 

Then we have another boy we are teaching who just decided to prepare for baptism on the 25th of February. He is also 10 and is really anxious to do what is right as well. His older sister lives in Spanish Fork and is also preparing for baptism. Their mom wants to be baptized as well but wants to wait to be baptized with her daughter that lives in Spanish Fork. 

 

As for the couple that I mentioned last week...we had a couple interesting experiences with them this last week. The woman told us this week that there had been some major fighting in the past with her and him, and a bit of violence. She told him that she would leave and take their child with if he didn't get straightened out...so that is when he showed up at church. Things have really been turning around for them. But then we met with them on Friday and they just had tons of doubts and were regressing and not believing anymore the things that the spirit had already confirmed to them. It was actually kind of a scary lesson. We could tell the minute that we walked in the house that there was just a bad feeling. It was incredibly hard to bring the spirit into the lesson. So we fasted for them yesterday. They attended church and really had a good experience and then we watched the Joseph Smith movie with them last night. It was really incredible and they were able to recognize that they won't be able to understand everything all at once and said that they do still want to learn about the church so they can find out for themselves if it is true. Those were two major 180's though....Kind of scary...but just goes to show that God is going to triumph in the end.

 

Well...that is about all I have time to talk about right now. I love and miss you all and hope that I get to tell you about my visa sometime soon!

 

Love,

Hermana Eyre