Just Another Day in Paradise!: Transfers-Tarragona-7 months

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Transfers-Tarragona-7 months

Wooohooo!!! Second area! And 7 months in! So crazy! Time literally just flies on the mission it's kind of crazy! My mission is almost half way over. I'm now in my second area TARRAGONA!!... which is literally a couple train stops away from Vilafranca...pero bueno. Haha with Hermana Hofstetter! So excited, this transfer is going to be amazing! Just the next adventure! I've heard that in your second area is where you grow the most! So I'm super excited but saying goodbye to Vilafranca was pretty hard. I remember at the beginning of my mission I was thinking "what is Vilafranca? Some tiny Catalan town, that no one knows where it is." And now I love Vilafranca with my whole heart! Vilafranca really has become my second home. Saying goodbye to the members and people here was a lot harder than I thought it would be... this week has been crazy just trying to say goodbye to every one. Nacho came to Vilafranca to visit me before I left and took us to a super nice restaurant it was cute, we then watched the restoration video with him and he wants us to start teaching his family. We went to Lalis house to say goodbye and she did a tradition with us that they have here for Tres' Reyes, a big celebration they have after Christmas to celebrate the 3 wise men and little kids get gifts and there is a parade, I'm not really sure, it's this giant cake thing and there is a little king figure in it and whoever gets it in their piece of cake gets good luck for the whole year, didn't win but Lali gave us each a little king! Some of the hardest goodbyes were Carlos, Mati, Luis, Gabriell, Alejandro, and Jose' Angel. The people that I have been teaching since my first day here. Carlos was our (beachtism) and Mati, Luis and Gabrielle is the family of Alejandro who is the little boy we got to help be baptized. And of course, Jose' Angel who has literally been the grandpa of the mission, he is the doctor who has been helping me with my neck and who we spent Christmas with, he has become one of my best friend in the mission. Last person I said goodbye to and it was pretty hard, when I saw him fighting back tears I almost lost it. The mission is so amazing! So, so many strangers that you just come to love so much! I've never written so many notes in Spanish haha. And Holly, so so many miracles this week! We had contacted the cutest family a week ago with a mom, dad and little 9 year old boy, who decided to meet with us, when we went to go meet with the family just the dad was there so we sat with him on a park bench at started talking to him, we came to find out that he was baptized!!!!! He had found the church when he was going through really hard times. He had met the Elders in the street and met with them. He said the church was "love at first sight" he loves the church and says that he felt peace so strongly and it hit him very hard that the church was true. He received an answer that it was and was baptized a week later. He just opened up and talked to us for a while of how much the church means to him and his missionaries. He then got a job and had to work on Sundays, then got married and had a little boy and has never been able to go back to church. He got so excited when we started teaching him and you can tell he just loves the gospel so much and wants it for his family. His wife is Catholic and doesn't really like him reading the Book of Mormon at home, he says he still tries to but when his son asks what it is it causes problems. He is going to talk to him family and we are going to be doing a noche de hogar with them soon! After the lesson he just sat and talked to us and could tell that he didn't want to leave, he then shook our hands and just kept thanking us. Literally a miracle! It's so amazing how God just seems to guide us and prompt us to talk to just the people who need it. I can't explain it, somehow we are just always where we need to be at the right time and you can just feel exactly where you need to go and who you need to talk to. Not all contacts come out with amazing miracles but there is a reason for everything, no effort is wasted. So many little miracles of just walking in the street and finding just who we were looking for, or who God needed us to see. It's so amazing! Just to feel like I am doing what my Heavenly Father needs me to do, his will. I LOVE the mission so much! Love you all, hope you have an amazing week!!!

Also thank you so much bishop and the bishopric for the book I loved it! Miss my lvins ward💗

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