I officially have less than a year left as a missionary. Whoa.

Hi Everyone!

This was probably one of the best weeks I've had in awhile. Last Thursday was Valentine's Day and we had the Mission Tour. We were in Pavones (where the temple is) for Mission Conference with Elder Kearon from 9 in the morning until like 4 in the afternoon. It was a long day, but so SO good. We learned a lot and it was cool to be with almost all the missionaries in the mission (the ones serving on the Canary Islands met with Elder Kearon Wednesday). He taught us about sanctifying ourselves so we can teach with power and a lot of other really insightful things that are going to help improve our teaching. Oh, also! President Jackson told us that we currently have 110 missionaries in the Spain Madrid Mission and by the end of 2013 we'll be at 220, with 58 of us being sisters. Pretty neat if you ask me!

Thursday night was Rosi's birthday, so we went over to her house and had dinner with her family to celebrate. After we left, Hermana Miron and I put a ton of hearts on her door to suprise her. She called us later saying she felt really special and she was going to leave them up so all her neighbors could see :)

Friday night we sang in the street and contacted a little bit. We picked a spot on a street between our piso and the church and set up camp on a bench. We had some pass along cards and a few Books of Mormon and we sang hymns for about half an hour. We didn't end up having very much success. One man came up to us and said he'd heard of the church before. Hermana Miron asked him if he'd like to learn more and he said absolutely not, that he liked his own church just fine. Haha oh well, it was still really fun. Since we weren't talking to very many people, we left and walked to the church.

The Young Men and Young Women in our ward had a Valentine's dinner/activity thing to raise money for EFY. They fed us dinner for 3 euros and there were cards and flowers for sale and then an auction. Oh my goodness, it was so much fun. There was singing and dancing and games and husbands went up in front of everyone and told their wives how much they loved them. Ahhh it was the cutest! Eduardo, Carmen and her daughters, Nicol and her parents, Evelyn and her parents and Lorena all came. It was awesome.

Bishop getting lipsticked

Fabian getting lipsticked

Eduardo at the Vday activity

 Saturday and Sunday we had Stake Conference. Hermana Miron and I were the only missionaries there Saturday night and the session was about missionary work. President Jackson spoke and he asked us to stand up and then called us angels. Haha it was cute. Also we learned that 45 years ago, there wasn't a single member of the church in all of Spain. Now, we have 3 stakes (one being formed in the islands), 1 temple, and 10 missionaries serving just from our stake. After the session on Sunday, everyone went outside and took pictures by the temple. It's so preeetty. I love the Madrid temple.

Ana and me after Stake Conference

Monday and Tuesday were the best though. Evelyn had her interview and everything is set for her baptism Saturday. She's so excited, and I can't wait! Monday night we visited Eduardo. We taught him HOLA (cada hombre tiene que orar, leer, y asistir la capilla - every man has to pray, read, and go to church) to help him understand the importance of daily scripture study and prayer and going to church every Sunday. It was a really good lesson. He said he's still waiting to feel "fire" but that it comes when he reads the scriptures, so he wants to get baptized soon. We ended on a good note and he offered the prayer, and we went home.

Then... LAST NIGHT WAS THE BEST EVER. We had another lesson with Eduardo. Hermana Miron shared a scripture in Proverbs about gaining wisdom and knowledge and then we somehow got back to the topic of baptism. I love when that happens. She was bold but not overbearing in asking him why he didn't feel ready to get baptized. He said he didn't want to take this step and then mess up and not be worthy anymore. We expressed to him that Heavenly Father doesn't require us to be perfect. He just asks that we try our best and then use the Atonement when we fall short of that. We then felt impressed to go over the baptismal interview questions with him. He answered them all perfectly. I knew we needed to invite him to be baptized, but I hadn't done it in Spanish since the MTC and was freaking out. Hermana Miron told me to just use my own words. Eduardo said to not be afraid, that he would understand me. It was like he was just waiting for the question. Then I said, "Tendrás tu bautismo el 16 de marzo?" and he started laughing. I asked him what was so funny and he said that was the same day he was thinking of after our fast a few weeks ago. He ended up saying yes, he wants to get baptized. AHHHH I CAN'T WAIT FOR MARCH 16TH. It's three days before my birthday and two days before Hermana Miron goes home. Happy Birthday to meeeeee. What a miracle. Eduardo has been meeting with missionaries for 7 months and he's finally getting baptized. I love being a missionary.

Us with Eduardo at the temple

Today we went to Pavones with the Elders in the district next to ours for Elder Sepúlveda's birthday. We made rice with chicken and peppers and it was yummy. Tonight we have a lesson with Lorena and Ruben and then tomorrow one with Carmen and her daughters (finally) after almost 2 weeks of not being able to meet with them.

Elder Rodriguez and Elder Sepúlveda on Sepu's birthday

Nilson (my visa waiter buddy) on Sepu's birthday

I can't believe I come home a year from yesterday. That's so weird. Time is going by way too fast. But I'm enjoying every second of what I have left :)

Love,

Hermana Munden

P.S. Starting March 4th our P-days will be changing to Mondays. Hooray! Wednesday P-days are just too dang weird.