Saludos from across the Atlantic

This week was SOOOO great!! Especially yesterday! But I'll start with what all happened this week (: oh I'm so grateful.

So on Wednesday we were finally able to meet with our dear friend Fidel again. He's the one that came to the activity the first week. He's had a big work project so he hasn't had a lot of time to meet with us. It was really cool because, like I said a few weeks ago, he wants us to teach him in english. Well last Sunday a member of the stake presidency came up to us and asked us to only speak with him in English because he served his mission in Baltimore and was feeling out of practice. Perfect! I told him about Fidel and he was really excited to help us with the lesson. It turned out really well! He was really tired but he made the sacrifice to meet with us. He also committed to coming to church on Sunday and he did! Miracle. He was only able to stay the first hour but we were ecstatic! 

Thursday was awesome too. We had an appointment with our new cute friend Marinieve and it was so great! She told us of her true desire to change her life around and to find the truth. It was incredible to be the instrument in the Lords hands to help her feel of His love for her. She wasn't able to go to church due to some health issues but we are meeting with her again tomorrow (:

After Marinieve we booked it back to La Laguna to meet with our favorite friend Virgilio. He is so solid. He called us 20 min before we were scheduled to meet to tell us that he was already at the meeting point and sounded so excited to meet with us. We found him in the park reading the Book of Mormon. As we started talking I asked him how the reading was going, and he said, "I haven't had much time this week to read a lot but I really like what I've read so far" when I asked him to show us where he was he flipped over to 2 Nefi 3. :D That's 72 pages of goodness! He feels really good about the doctrine and the Book of Mormon. We taught him the Plan of Salvation and when we talked about the spirit world I felt prompted to talk about family history and temple work. 

It happened to be perfect because on Sunday the speaker gave his whole talk on the importance of family history and Temple work. Virgilio came to church for all 3 hours. We were able to show him where his daughters would go when they come and explained that he could sit with his wife in the first two hours. There were so many miracles. The members really helped him to feel welcome he even told me how he felt like he had already known some of the members. At the end of the sacrament meeting he told me how he'd really like to see the baptismal swimming pool. We snatched our ward mission leader and were able to show him the font and a video of how baptisms work in the church. The spirit was so strong. After the video ended he looked up at us and asked, "So who would baptize me when I'm baptized?" It was so wonderful. Our ward mission leader Pablo just beamed, and explained briefly the priesthood and said, "uh, I could baptize you!" it was really cool. Virgilio committed to share what he had learned with his family and to invite them to come as well. We are really hoping to be able to meet with his wife this week. Please keep sending your prayers for this man and his family! We are meeting with him again on Thursday (we are having quite the busy week)

 Needless to say the Lord is preparing people. All we need to do is find them. It was interesting. One of the members asked Virgilio how long he had been meeting with the missionaries and he said that his initial contact with the missionaries was SIX MONTHS ago. I had no idea. I'm grateful for the opportunity I have to hopefully harvest some of the seeds the past missionaries sewed. I'm so grateful to serve here in La Laguna. This is truly the Lords work.

To end, I was reading and pondering the words in Doctrine and Covenants 4

3 Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work;

4 For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul;

7 Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Amen.

There are missionary opportunities all around us. All we need to do is ask to receive them with a willing heart. As we pray for experiences to share the gospel, the Lord will give them to us. May we ever pray for the welfare of our dear family members, that we can help bring them back to the presence of our Heavenly Father. 

I hope you all have a great week!

Hermana Warner

We went to the beach today. It's super cool because the sand is black! I love my area.

Miracles on my moms day. I love you mom!

So so so good!! Sorry about not writing last week, we are still getting used to p-days here and I didn't make time for it... but hey! This week was FANTASTIC! The lord just keeps blessing us more and more. We've been able to meet with the members and we are getting the first lesson down. Hermana Willden is so great, she is so patient with me and is such a hard worker. It's been a little hard to talk with 25 people everyday but we have really been looking outside of ourselves and doing our best to share the gospel with every one (:

I just wanted to share two of the miracles that happened this week, so I'll just cut to it. When we got here to La Laguna and asked about how we do English class, the elders looked back and forth at each other, shrugged and told us, "Uuhh about that, they don't really happen because no one comes..." In my previous areas I've loved having English class because it's really one of the only ways we can serve here in Spain. It's also a really easy and relaxed way for people to get to know us without the fear of a religion they aren't familiar with. I've also just made some really awesome friends through English class so I am all for it. Anyway, like the elders said, no one comes. But Hermana Willden and I have been diligent in going to the church and the Library that we hold them in every week with the faith that maybe one day someone would come. So Thursday afternoon comes around. We had been praying all that morning that someone would come. We got there right on time and the guy at the front desk told us, "There's a girl waiting for you upstairs"  we went up and SHE WAS THERE! It was a miracle! We were able to get to know her and help her with her english, it was so nice to finally be able to serve! As the conversation continued she asked us more about our beliefs and expressed interest in reading the Book of Mormon in english. Luckily Hermana Willden had been listening to the spirit and although walking around a Spanish island with an English BOM didn't make a lot of sense she kept saying, "I just have a feeling that we're going to need it." So she was able to give it to our new friend. The library is closing until September but she agreed to meet and take english class in the house of a near by member. We are so excited to see how things go! Send her your prayers!

So when we start the mission we have this thing called "The first 12 Weeks" which is basically just a study guide for new missionaries and their trainers. This week it had us focus on asking inspired questions and teaching people, not lessons. It was the perfect preparation for the lesson we had with our new friend Virgilio. We hadn't actually ever met him before, but we had his number from the previous sisters so we decided to keep calling him to see if he could meet. We were finally able to on Saturday. we had originally planned on meeting at 1:00 with a member. When we called him he told us that he was still on the other side of the island and that it would take about an hour for him to meet with us.

Background on spanish culture. We have this thing called mediodía. It's like a 2 hour break in the middle of the day from around 2-4:30ish so we don't eat lunch until 2. Anyway, just a fun fact. So after a while of waiting we dismissed our member friend so she could go get some lunch and move on with her life. Hermana Willden and I had other plans but we unanimously expressed that this lesson was far more important than eating right at two. We had to wait until about 2:30 before we finally came to the park we arranged to meet in. It wasn't flawless but the spirit was so present as we discussed our purpose of meeting. We didn't even start teaching him about the restoration when he started asking about how we go about baptizing people and expressed interest in witnessing one. 

Him: "Do you have a baptismal service coming up anytime soon?" 

Me:"Yeah, whenever you want."  

Jk jk but seriously. It was legit. Aaannd we are going to meet with him again on Wednesday. PRAYERS! It was hands down the most incredible first lesson I've had on the mission. He understands the purpose of our meetings clearly and is willing to do what we invite him to. I am really excited. PLEASE SEND YOUR PRAYERS!

No lie. Prayers work. Please pray.

I was reading in the gospel of Mark this week and something that Christ said really hit me like a load of bricks moving 80 km/hr on a brand-new shiny red radio flyer.

22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.

23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. (Mark 11)

I've been asking a lot of my Heavenly Father, not something I usually do. But as I have been praying for these miracles He gives them to me in ways I couldn't even begin to hope for. I know that as we truly ask in faith, God will give us whatsoever thing we desire. It's too bad it's taken this long for me to really start to get it. I hope to be able to recieve all the miracles the Lord has waiting for us these next few months. 

That's all I really wanted to say. Well that and also a huge HUGE GINORMOUS shout out to the best mom in the world for turning another year older an wiser. I love you mom! I've been doing some extra arm workouts in the morning to be ready for our big bear hug. I've also been blessed with an awesome comp who gives me some practice ;) 

I hope you ALL have a wonderful week full of beautiful sunrises and blissful last minute summer adventures. 

All the awkward besos.

Hermana Warner

We were walking around this lovely area and a nice old man let us hike up the hill in his back yard to get a better view.

These flowers are everywhere and I love them. 

But not as much as my sunflowers (:

...Hermana Willden and I are working on getting some pictures together but.... eh this week you can just enjoy the pretty flowers 🌺 🌻 

I'm going through mountain withdrawals.

 It legit feels like the transfer left just as soon as it came. Wow. So a lot has happened! First off, trio. We've been in a trio with Hermana Estrada for the last week covering two areas. It's been crazy but super fun to be able to spend time with these two chicas! We were able to go to activities and a baptism of our cute member friend Eduardito. But over all I feel like we've been spending most of our time running around with backpacks and food and riding the bus to the four corners of the earth.

     But yeah, like I said, TRANSFERS! There have been some big changes. I will be going to the island Tenerife to serve in San Cristóbal de la Laguna. I'm pretty sure it's the island where Christopher Columbus made a pit stop just before going to the Americas. I'm so excited! I've been told it's the greenest part of the island and that there are some killer hikes. Or in other words, the Lord is sending me to die in paradise. As far as my new companion goes, I won't find out until tomorrow because.... I'M TRAINING! I'm too excited! Also a little nervous because I'm training her in an area that I don't even know but hey! You live and you learn. :) 

     As I've been reflecting on my time here in B9 Carabanchel all I can be is grateful. These have legit been the most fulfilling and difficult transfers of the mission. I've learned and grown in ways I didn't even think were possible before the mission. I am sad to say goodbye to my family here but I know it's my time to go. I'm grateful for the time I was able to spend with Sandra, Isa Mar, Antonia, Alexandra and all the other incredible friends I've made here. I'm grateful for all I've learned from Hermana Snyder and Hermana Ibáñez. It's truly been quite the adventure. 

     I don't know if I mentioned how we met Antonia but I think it's a good story and it's strengthened my testimony of diligence and the promise that "No effort is wasted." Hermana Snyder and I found her long ago, my first transfer here. To this day I still don't remember the actual initial conversation or really anything about our first encounter. My guess is that Hermana Snyder commented on her jewelry or clothing. Anyway I saw her name and number, next to it I wrote "CALL HER" so I figured she was pretty important. I called her a few times and every time she would tell me that it would be better to call the next week or later. We found her in the beginning of March and I didn't get to meet with her until the middle of June. She canceled once or twice before we were finally able to meet. Since we've started meeting p, she's been coming to church, praying, reading the BOM and truly learning how to follow the Savior. I didn't think I could do much in just one transfer and there were times I thought I wasn't making a difference.  It when I saw her yesterday with her lower lip trembling and tears in her eyes I knew that I had been doing exactly what the Lord needed me to do. I'm grateful for her and for what she's taught me. Im also grateful for Hermana Snyder and all the other missionaries that served here before me.

     Anyway I feel like I'm just rambling my life in an email so I should probably stop and enjoy these last moments with my pineapple friends.

     Have a great week my friends!

Hermana Warner 

Antonia Hermana Ibáñez and Hermana Estrada

My Dominican family

unnecessary bathroom selfie with my girls