I may not make it til morning it's so flipping hot.

Saludos de España!

 

Things that made me happy this week...

• Talking to Sister Cha who's home from her mission now. All my trainers are home now and it's cool to be able to talk to them. I can't believe that's going to be in 7 and a half months. Ew.
• Receiving 39 referrals. Most of them came from the old area books. There are teaching records of people who were taught anywhere between 1 to 6 years ago. We went through them, called some people up, and we have plans to meet with them this week. Who knows, maybe now is their time!
• The talk the AP's gave at our district meeting about faith, power, and miracles. They talked about how God has the power to make absolutely anything happen. We just have to have faith and show Him we believe miracles can happen, and then be the means by which those miracles are brought to pass. Our mission goal is 1000 baptisms this year and we're only at 174, which means it'll take a miracle to reach that goal. But it can happen because the Lord is on our side and He is a God of miracles.
• Gusto came to the baptism we invited him to. It was Hermana Rica's very first baptism and she was super nervous but everything turned out perfectly. The kid's name was Noslen and he brought his parents who aren't members. It was really cool.
• Remembering it was Mom & Tom's anniversary on Friday and thinking about Hawaii all day. Happy Anniversary by the way! So weird that I was 11 when we went to Hawaii the first time, and here we are 11 years later.
• MARCO calling US and asking to meet, which never happens. We read the Book of Mormon together and afterwards I asked him to come to church. He said no, that he couldn't because he would be at a friends house. I said some things that made him think about his priorities and he agreed to come. Then he came and stayed all three hours!
• The sweet ladies who fed us lunch after church - one of them turned to me and goes, ''You know, I used to think you were stuck up. But you're actually really nice!'' ...that always happens to me
• I SAW RAFA AT THE TEMPLE! It's been a whole month or so since I'd seen that dude. But we had a little heart to heart while we watched the MTC missionaries sing and I told him he was gonna serve a mission one day and when he does, he's be up there singing with them. He said he'll go to the New York Manhattan Mission :) He's also coming to Inussa's baptism on Friday! 

It was a good week, but I'm hoping this one will be even better. On Wednesday evening we're going to sing in the park with the Sullivans. They are one of the senior couples I flew out here with - he's in the MTC presidency and they work with the JAS (YSA). Anyhow, so they were in the MOTAB for like 15 years and obviously they have beauuuutiful voices, so I'm excited to sing with them. On Friday is Inussa's baptism. He's the other hermanas' investigator, but we see him all the time too and I love that man. I'm so happy he's getting baptized! Then Saturday is the ward talent show that the YM and YW are in charge of and they've asked us to do something. We'll see how that goes...

 

Then Sunday is our ward's Missionary Sunday. The original plan was for Elder Pizarro, me, and two ward missionaries to speak and then have a musical number by us and the Primary, but President Jackson just sent us an email saying we're going to watch the worldwide missionary broadcast in our wards this Sunday, so I'm not sure what on earth is going on. Haha if I do have to speak though, I'm going to be super nervous. I can talk forever in English, but 10 minutes in Spanish in front of 200 people is going to seem like an eternity. But speaking of the missionary broadcast, I'm super pumped to watch it. No one tells us anything, so we didn't hear about it til last night when Hermana Sullivan mentioned it. But it sounds really cool. It's incredible how the Lord is hastening His work with more missions, more missionaries, and all these new missionary tools. We're turning into an unstoppable force, and that's just as it should be. I can't wait for Conner to get his call! You must email me immediately okay? I secretly hope he gets sent to the Spain Madrid Mission - that'd be neat. It's an exciting time to be a missionary and I'm happy to get to share this experience with him.

 

Well, I love you all. So so much. Don't forget that :)

 

Love,

Hermana Munden

 

''And now, behold, I say unto you, that the thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people, that you may bring souls unto me, that you may rest with them in the kingdom of my Father. Amen.'' (D&C 15:6)

 

I can't wait to rest with all my Provo and Spain people ''in the kingdom of my Father'' :)

9 months down, only 8 to go... me encanta ser misionera

Hi Family!

 

I am so glad this week is over, not because it was particularly bad or anything, but because the first week of every transfer is always awkward, stressful, and challenging. Monday was busy with cleaning, organizing, rearranging, and helping Hermana Stepp get settled in. We had to say goodbye to Hermana Burgos, who got transfered to Oviedo in the north, and that was really sad. She's incredible and was there for me last transfer when I needed cheering up.

 

Hermana Stepp is very sweet.  Every morning she makes my bed for me while I'm in the bathroom brushing my teeth, and on days when I don't have time, she surprises me with an omlet. We've been out the exact same time, except I have more time in the field. She visawaited in the Idaho Pocatello Mission until she came here in March which is cool because she knows some of the elders from my MTC district! 

 

The highlights from Tuesday are seeing Mari and José, two new investigators, and Hermana Stepp finding me. While we were sitting on the temple steps waiting for an appointment to show up, someone came up from behind me and covered my eyes. I turned around and it was Mari from Leganés! I was so happy to see her and she said Evelyn talks about me all the time. Mari has a calling and José had just had his interview to receive the Melchizedec (not sure if that's how you spell it, I've been spelling it in Spanish for awhile...) priesthood. It's so awesome to hear how well their family is progressing. Later that evening we had a lesson with Marco and Iván. I had called Marco's home phone to remind him about the lesson, but Iván answered so I just invited him to come as well! They both showed up and we had a really good lesson.

 

At some point during the day we were contacting in the metro. We were in the same metro car, but in different spots so that we could be more efficient contacting, but I told Hermana Stepp that we were going to get off in Estrella. Well the Estrella stop came up and I got off, but I noticed as I was walking out, that she wasn't getting off too. I watched the metro go by and didn't see her anywhere! I've made it 9 months without being separated from my companion so I was a little nervous. I went up the stairs and out of the metro station and just hoped and prayed that she'd somehow find me. Not even ten minutes later I saw her coming out of the station. The Spirit had led her back to me :)

 

Wednesday I hit 9 months! It should be my halfway mark, but since I'm only serving 17 months and 1 week, my halfway mark was last month. I come home 8 months from tomorrow. During personal study, Hermana Hansen and Hermana Smith came in with French toast and sang ''Feliz Cumplemes'' to us. They're pretty dang cute. The rest of the day was good. We had a lesson with Oscar and then did some contacting in the park. My favorite African David bought us some strawberry popsicles for our cumplemes and then we ended the night at the chapel for an activity.

 

Thursday I woke up sick (I've never been as sick as I have these last 9 months I've been on my mission), but Hermana Smith drugged me up and took care of me. After studies, weekly planning, and mediodia, we had a lesson with Hortensia. And it went greeeeaaaaat because she told us that things with her daughter are improving! She said her daughter bought her a pair of shoes, wrote her a sweet poem, and has been helping out around the house. It's amazing what multiple people praying for one purpose can do. After Hortensia, we had a lesson with Marco and then he ended up coming to Noche de Hogar. Hermana Stepp gave the spiritual thought, and then we taught them all how to play hangman. It was pretty fun. After the Noche de Hogar, Elder Pizarro and Elder Castaldi gave me a blessing. I'm so grateful to be serve with elders who are worthy of and honor their priesthood.

 

Friday morning we had a lesson with Eloy. We stressed the importance of faith as a principle of action and that faith leads us to make changes, sacrifices, and goals that bring us closer to God. We recommitted him to being baptized on July 6th and he knows that if he wants to make that happen, he needs to start making church on Sundays a priority. That afternoon we had a lesson with Antony. He's 20, so we brought along Arturo and Bianca who are his age and who knew him before when the elders were teaching him. We were going to watch a movie, but his laptop wouldn't accept the DVD, so we each shared with him our favorite scripture and testified of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. The other appointments we had that day failed us, but at 8 we went to meet this girl Raysa. Her dad had been taught by the elders like 6 months ago, but she'd never listened very much. It was awesome meeting her and we're seeing her again on Tuesday. 

 

Saturday morning we had English class. We taught them some tongue twisters. My favorite was when we did ''fuzzy wuzzy was a bear, fuzzy wuzzy had no hair, fuzzy wuzzy wasn't very fuzzy was he'' because this guy Carlos turned it into a rap and it was hilaaaarious. Then I picked up my package from the B8 hermanas! I love mail sooooooo much. And I just considered that my 9 month package. It was a very nice surprise. Thank you! We got a call from Sergio and he goes, ''Hey hermanas, what time is your lesson with Eliesque?'' I told him it was at 5 and he said, ''Okay, I'll meet you at the church at 5 then. See you later!'' Sergio is the man. I told him a week ago that we had a lesson with this dude, and then he just called and said he wanted to come! I love that guy. Eliesque ended up failing us, but it was super nice of Sergio to offer to come!

 

Yesterday was good. Oscar and Eloy both came to church! The ward has been 150% better about talking to our investigators when we bring them to church and I'm really happy about it. I took a bomb nap during mediodia and then we had a lesson with Vic. We taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ and then she brought up baptism.  I told her that her Heavenly Father has a ton of blessings prepared for her, and a lot of those will only come from being baptized in the true church of Jesus Christ. We invited her to pray about it because really it's between her and God and we don't want to make her do anything. Hermana Stepp made a good point that it's our responsibility as missionaries to make sure she knows the truth and help her understand it and that the way she'll know what's the right thing for her to do is to pray. We only see her once a week so I'm hoping after a week of praying about it, she'll feel more sure of what she needs to do.

 

I'm happy. I love being a missionary. I like it so much. It is the hardest thing I've ever done and I've felt frustrated/discouraged/sad/angry/homesick and like I wanted to give up and times, but I wouldn't trade the last 9 months for anything.

 

Love,

Hermana Munden

''Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven''

Hi Family!

Today is transfer day! I'm staying in Pavones and Hermana Olsen is going to Vallecas, so I'm with Hermana Stepp.

This week was GOOD. On Monday we had the activity at the mission home. All the missionaries serving around Madrid came to the mission home and we played tennis, ping pong, basketball, soccer, volleyball, the piano and guitar, and then ate pulled pork sandwiches. It was really awesome. Then that night Dr. Borras called me because I'd been experiencing the same pain as I was a few months ago and he had a new antibiotic for me to try. So we spent the rest of Monday going to his office to pick up the prescription and then picking up the medicine from a pharmacy. After all that hassle, we started calling old investigators from the phone to try and set appointments up with them and we got to talk to five!



This is our piso: Hermanas Rica, Burgos, me, Olsen, Smith (and Hansen is taking the picture)



Tuesday morning we had a lesson with Eloy. We spent the whole time talking about church - why it's important, what we do, and how it will help prepare him to get baptized. Then we set his baptism for June 29th. He is really very sweet and super sincere. He wants to learn and soaks everything up like a sponge. After that we had a lesson with this new guy named Oscar. He's Peruvian and in his late 40's. He was a reference from the MTC missionaries and this was our first time meeting him. He seemed super sad and lonely. He said he only had like 4 friends and not even his family talks to him. We shared a scripture with him and talked a little bit about our purpose as missionaries. He didn't seem extremely interested, but he committed to coming to church and set up an appointment with us for tomorrow!

Tuesday night we had a lesson with Gusto (who just barely told us his name is actually Justo after we've been saying it wrong for a month). He hasn't been reading the Book of Mormon, so we thought we'd read it with him. We picked 1 Nephi 3 when Nephi and his brothers go get the brass plates from wicked Laban. Hermana Olsen and I read in English while Ryan (the 18 yearold son of the Filipino family) read in Tagalog and explained parts to Gusto that he didn't understand. He thought the story was really cool and told us he would read the next chapter on his own to find out what happens. Ryan was really cute and gave him a magnifying glass because it's hard for Gusto to see the words sometimes.



This is me and Gusto, our Filipino investigator. He is hands down the funniest man I've ever met.


After that, we headed back to Pavones to have a lesson with David, a recent convert. Well, this night, we found him sitting with his friend Juan Luis when we showed up. David and Juan Luis are both Spanish, both recent converts, and like best friends. So basically they're the cutest things ever. And David invited Juan Luis to come to the lesson with us. We were SO glad he did, because David was friendly, talkative, sweet, and the nicest we'd ever seen him! We talked about Christ and how their relationships with Him have changed since being a member of the church. David was actually a Jehovah's Witness before we was baptized, so he told us how his whole idea of who Jesus Christ is and his role in our lives has changed since joining the church. It was really neat. He'll hit his 1 year mark on June 30th, he's getting endowded July 2nd, and he and his girlfriend are getting sealed July 11th. So exciting!


Our friend from the park, David


Wednesday morning was the temple. I love to seeeeeee the teeeemple. For real though. Best day of the whole transfer. We took pictures outside and it was the last time I'll see Elder Gonzalez because he goes home tomorrow! I hate when people leave. It's so sad.





Last night at the temple





The MTC missionaries sing on the temple steps every Sunday afternoon



The biggest part of the day I guess was our lesson with Rafa. We taught him the gospel of Jesus Christ and then I asked him if he knew the church was true. He said he did because something had told him it was true. I asked what that something was and he said he thought it was the Holy Ghost. Ahhh so proud of him! I love when I get to see the lightbulb go on and investigators begin to understand the Holy Ghost. I invited him to be baptized on June 29th and he said yes! I loooooove Rafa. After the lesson we went outisde and I saw Renato on the phone. He waved at us and said he was talking to his dad who was in Brazil. Renato has been teaching me Portugues so I asked if I could talk to his dad. I told him, ''Hi I'm Brazilian and I speak Portuguese. Today is a nice day and I'm a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.'' He laughed and laughed and said something in Portuguese that I did not understand one bit. Haha it was awesome.

Thursday Eloy showed up at Noche de Hogar. This guy Sergio was super cute with him. He gave him a tour of the church and then took him outside to look at the temple. He had him read the front and goes, ''That says 'the house of the Lord, which Eloy will soon enter'''. I love Sergio.

Friday morning we went BACK to Aluche to get my residency card. The line was like an hour and a half long, but we got it! I'm officially a resident of Spain. I feel super official. After that we came home and made lunch for the elders. We feel bad because every Sunday we pass around a meal calendar and no one ever signs up to feed them. So last Sunday I signed us up. We made pizza and they brought ice cream AND did the dishes. Their mothers taught them right. Friday night was kind of hectic because we had our dinner for the ward. Our ward mission leader, the ward missionaries, and the six of us made food from our different countries and fed the ward. Soo many people came. We had 12 nonmembers, 15 less actives, and 50 or something members. Hermana Olsen and I made sloppy joe's, the most American thing we could think of. We almost ran out of food, but everyone who came got to eat. None of us got anything, but that was okay. Haha Rafa and Marcos showed up! I was really glad they came. I was especially proud of Rafa because his phone is broken so I couldn't even text him to remind him. He just came all on his own!



Us Barrios 6 missionaries after our Cena Cultural Misional

Saturday morning we had a million people in our English class and it was really fun. Afterwards we had a lesson with Oscar and this time he was way more open and even accepted an invitation to be baptized when he knows the church is true. He's gonna start reading the Book of Mormon from the beginning and he came to Stake Conference on Sunday!

Sunday was awesome. Stake Conference was really good. The Stake YM President gave a talk on the worth of every soul and at the end he said, ''If any one of you here thinks you're not important, you're wrong. God loves you and you matter to Him.'' It was really powerful and I was glad Oscar heard that.

It's so true. We all matter. Everyone is a son or daughter of God and He loves us beyond comprehension. I love my knowledge of that. It keeps me going when life seems impossible. I love you!

Love,

Hermana Munden

P.S. I hit 9 months on Wednesday. What the heck...

HAPPY JUNE :)

Hellllooooooo

We've spent like all day today at the mission home with all the missionaries serving around Madrid, so I'm beat. It was super fun and I got to see people I haven't seen in awhile and I said bye to Elder Gonzalez and Elder Forrest who are leaving next Monday. Speaking of next Monday, this is the last week of the transfer! It blows my mind how fast time flies in the mission.

This week went by pretty quick. I don't have a ton of time, but I'll give you the jist...

Monday: Pday in the park. We went shopping with David from Africa and I bought two scarves. Both of our lessons failed us, so we contacted in the metro all night.

Tuesday: Hermana Olsen spent the day at the Mission Home for a leadership training meeting, so I was with Hermana Seastrand all day. She's so awesome. Later that night we had a lesson with Gusto and he said he's not ready to get baptized because he's nervous people will make fun of him and judge him.

Wednesday: That morning we had Zone Training Meeting and it was really long, but so good. And some guy from Barrio 5 arranged for all the missionaries in Madrid to have A&W rootbeer. I hate rootbeer but it was still sweet, and super American. After ZTM we were supposed to have four lessons back to back, but three failed us, so we went contacting. At 8 we had a lesson with David. As I saw him walking up the steps, I turned to Armine (an RM sister from our ward) and asked if she wanted to come read the Book of Mormon with us. Of course she said yes. So we grabbed her and headed off to our lesson. We read Jacob 4 and talked about prophets. We talked about our living prophet and invited David to pray about Thomas S. Monson. Afterwards, we invited him to church on Sunday, but he reminded us he'd be in Toledo. Armine saved the day and invited him to church in Toledo. I wrote down the information and let him know I'd call the elders and let them know he's coming... He ended up not going. This guy Renato taught me some Portugues and we saw Paul from Leganés.

Thursday: I didn't hate weekly planning for the first time ever. We had an awesome plan of salvation lesson with Rafa and this cool guy Sergio came. And then Rafa stayed for Noche de Hogar.

I don't remember what happened Friday, Saturday, or Sunday because I don't have my planner and I'm not caught up in my journal. I'm especially bad this week on details and miracles and everything else. But I'm happy. Life is still good. I'll be better next week I swear.

Oh wait! Saturday was Paola and Jéssica's baptism. I'm super bummed I wasn't there, but Hermana Blodgett told me all about it and apparently it was really awesome. I called Hermana Blodgett and got to talk to them like an hour before the baptism and they sounded so happy. Paola cried and told me not to forget her. But there's no way. I love them so much.

And I love you!

Love, (so much love)

Hermana Munden

P.S. Happy Graduation, Conner and Hadley! I took a moment of silence for you guys on Saturday and I have your senior pictures in my planner. Haha I can't believe my babies are all grown up.