Just Another Day in Paradise!: "What the Lord taught me on my Mission"

Que tal estamos? (How are we?) Bueno, (Good!) This week I had my very last Zone Conference, and all the missionaries that are going home that transfer shares their testimony of "What the Lord has taught them during their Mission" It was my turn, so I thought I would include what I prepared to say, just a small part of what the Lord has taught me during this year and a half (almost) Well the lord has taught me a lot of humility (I needed) The Lord has taught me to love Spaniards, I in Catalonia for over a year, so he even taught me to love Catalonians (they are good people) I never had anyone really close to me that had served a mission, I am the oldest in my family and my dad didn't serve so I honestly had no idea what the mission was going to be like, I just thought it was going to be a straight up party) and it is at times, the mission is so fun but another big thing that the Lord has taught me is that even as missionaries we have trials. We have very real trials just because we are out serving the Lord (or have time in the mission) doesn't mean Satan is going to stop trying, we are literally doing the best work we can be doing, we are doing the exact opposite of what the adversary wants, to bring Gods sons and daughters back to him. Of course he is going to try harder than ever before. (But we also have to remember we have the best help we could possibly have) There is a scripture I found a while ago that I want to share that really helped me understand something, 📖 in D&C 101:2-4 📖 2 I, the Lord, have suffered the affliction to come upon them, wherewith they have been afflicted...3 Yet I will own them, and they shall be mine in that day when I shall come to make up my jewels. 4 Therefore, they must needs be chastened and tried, I remember something I learned in the MTC that has always stuck with me, an elder said once that us as missionaries in the mission are in the refiners fire...and a refiner in order to make his beautiful and perfect what he does is he has to melt it and put it under insane amounts of heat and pressure and then he has to pound it, shape it and stretch it.... and the refiner knows when his silver is finished when he can see himself (his reflection) in the silver. And sometimes it's the same with us, God puts us under heat and pressure and sometimes we feel like we are being pounded and stretched. But the Lord does it to perfect us so one day he can see himself in us (like the refiner with his silver) and like the scripture says so we can become his jewels. So it is ok if we have trials in the mission, we are here not only to help others know and come unto Christ but to come to know him ourselves. And that is how we do it, and we are stretched and we have to rely on the Savior and when we have to apply his atonement. So when we get home we can testify of him. His power and atonement, because its real. If some point of your mission you are having a hard time don't be hard on yourself, we are doing a great work and maybe Gods just perfecting you a little more. The mission has also taught me how to laugh, and the mission has given me some of the best friends I have ever had, including my companions who some of them are here today, including my baby. I have been so lucky, the Lord has blessed me with the most amazing companions and I have learned so much from each of them. I have learned the importance of the following the spirit and the power of the Scriptures. I have learned a lot of different cultures that I absolutely just adore! I have learned that mate is amazing, crocodile feet not so much, not recommend it. One of the biggest things I have come to understand is the most basic thing we teach people that God is our Heavenly Father, that he knows us and loves us. That the things that are important to us are to him, I have seen that over and over again in my mission, in my personal life and in the life of our amigos. But I think one of the biggest things the Lord has done for me during my mission is I had an "I'm In" moment. I have come to know that this is real and this is what I want for my family and for the people live the Gospel and the of when they .) Before the mission I thought of the Gospel of just something extra we had to help our lives be easier but I have come to learn in the mission that the gospel is not just something we have to help us in our lives but it is our lives. It's everything and its the reason we have life! And I know that the Gospel is pure Joy! (The only pure joy there is, joy that cannot be not find anywhere else)-Well not much more happened this week, not gonna lie all areas are great and but this is one of my harder areas Ive had, it seems that no matter how hard we try, how many people we contact or how many doors we knock; nobody seems to want to listen. Catarroja is a very very small town, it is a more rich town and all of the old Spaniards are die hard catholic. Here, 90% of the people here are Spaniards, something super different then what I'm used to. We have had a lot of doors slammed in our faces a lot of rude comments and a lot of people laugh at us. But its part of the adventure right! However like the Lord does, he prepares people to hear and accept the gospel everywhere. And we found one of his little miracles this week. We got a reference from the elders, her name is Camila and she is from Columbia. After searching for her house for over an hour in the cold we were able to find it. We sat down with her and she just seemed to have all of the perfect questions. She told us she was so confused about why there are so many churches but that one has to be true and she wants to find that Church, she is really searching and studied with many churches including the Jehovah witnesses for 2 years, (there are very very many here as well) she told us she went to church with the elders twice and absolutely loved it she said she felt so so good and loved being there. But that's not the best part, she told us that the day after meeting the elders in the street she had a dream. She said she had a dream of her grandpa (who she was very very close to, and he was like her hero and he passed away) she said in her dream her grandpa appeared and that he was dressed in all white, and he told her that she needed to listen to those elders that they were going to lead her on the right path and that they would help her stay protected... I thought about what president Dayton told us in his last zone conference that the spirit of Elijah is real, its happening and that people are being prepared because their family on the other side of the veil have excepted the gospel and need someone to do their work. Whoa, now I have goose bumps thinking about it! At the end of the lesson she told us she wants us to come everyday to read the Book of Mormon with her and explain it. We also explained of how she will come to know the truth, through prayer and asking God, she said she loved that! That it made so much sense, she said there had been other churches she studied with that just told her, this is the way it is, this is the truth... sadly we found out she lives right on the border of the elders area so they will be teaching her but she is a miracle non the less. Well I love you all so much. Thank you for all of your prayers, they help. Love you all, have a bomb week and see ya all in 1 short month.. what?!??!?! Love, Hermanita hijo de pedro (Little Sister, Son of Pedro)