Feliz Año Nuevo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my goodness, I cannot believe it´s almost 2015--that is just wild. Seriously, I can´t believe it. I swear it was just barely 2013, it´s so crazy! I am in shock! Wow! Seeing your faces was the happiest thing in the entire world! I just loved it. It made me so, so happy just to cry and stare at you all :) Thank you so much for all being there to talk to me--sorry about the tech problems haha. But I just loved seeing you all so much. Skyping was so much more real this time, it was crazy. It affected me a lot more because you all seemed so real, and it made me realize that my mission is not going to last forever. I know I still have a lot of time left, but it was just super eye-opening for me that it´s not going to last forever. It´s so crazy, and it kind of made me freak out, but it´s good :) Seeing you all made me so happy I can´t even tell you! I just loved it. You all look so good and beautiful!!!!!!!!!! I loved it.

It sounds like Christmas has been so wonderful! I am so happy you all get to party together! Tell me all the details--all the one liners that happen sitting on the kitched counters, everything that happens. I hope it´s so much fun :) Thank you so much for all spoiling me this Christmas! I am so lucky! I can´t believe how much you all spoiled me. Thank you so much for being the best family in the whole entire world. :) And huge shout-out to Beth and Ben this week! Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope it´s a magical birthday :)

Well, this Christmas was so magical!!!!!!!! It was a really fun week, because Monday we had zone conference, then Tuesday was Preparation Day and we went ice skating! I think I already told you that. It was so magical. Then on Christmas Eve we ate with some members with the elders and just passed by and caroled to a bunch of people. It was really sweet: there is a less-active woman who is having a really hard time--her husband just left her and she is about to lose her apartment--and we decided to give her the cute nativity mom sent us. We gave it to her and when she opened the box, she just sat and cried and said she had never had a nativity and was so grateful. She told us that it went from being the worst Christmas of her life to the best. It was the sweetest thing! We all cried together and it was so wonderful. Thank you so much, Lowli! You are the best :)

Then that night we ate with the stake president´s family who live in our ward, and they are my favorite family in the world! They are seriously the funniest family I have ever met. It was so so fun! We ate so much and they gave us gifts and we just laughed so hard. Then we went to see another family and they gave us a bunch of gifts too. It was so sweet.

That night Hermana O´Neill and I slept under the tree--I told her it was our tradition in December--and it was so fun! On Christmas morning we made French toast, studied, and then just opened our packages and ate SO MUCH CHOCOLATE. For real.Then we ate a HUGE meal with a member and it was so fun :) Then we had the baptism of the little girl in our ward. She is the daughter of an active family, an 8-year-old girl, but they asked us to teach the lessons just so she knows. It was so fun! It was so cute. She reminds me a ton of Mini, so I just loved it! :)

It really was such a magical Christmas. I just loved it. We had so much fun and the members were so good to us :)

The best part of this week, though, is Cristobal and Susana! They have just had the most amazing change come over them!!!! Cristobal is seriously a different person. He is so excited about the Book of Mormon and is just thirsty to know more about the gospel. It´s amazing! A member sent him the whole hour-long Joseph Smith movie, and he watched the whole thing!!!!!!!!!! He loved it so much! And then he came to the baptism of the little girl, and he was watching so intently and asked all the men which one of them wants to baptize him! WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is so amazing to watch--I am just blown away! Susana is a little behind him, still working on getting her testimony and an answer, but she is amazing too. They are seriously our family here. They gave us gifts, too, and just shower us with love every time we go over (which is almost every day haha). They are the most wonderful people in the world. We haven´t been able to set a fecha with them because this week was so crazy and our lessons kept getting cut off with them. But tonight we are going to have them pick out their own date in January to be baptized. We are just praying our guts out for them to finally make the push and just take the step. They are so ready. It´s amazing! We are so, so excited :)

The Lord has blessed us with so many people to teach. This week has been kind of crazy, cause everyone´s super busy with the holidays, so we´ve been in the streeet a lot and it´s FREEZING!!!!!!!!!!!! But it´s fun haha. We are just bundling up and loving it :) Just make sure the missionaries there have stuff to do this week so they aren´t just walking in the snow!

Hermana O´Neill is doing really well! She is amazing. She is such an incredible missionary. She is obedient and works so hard and has the strongest testimony. She puts a lot of pressure on herself because she really wants to be her very best, so I´m just trying to help her see that we can have fun and laugh and be ourselves and still be good missionaries :) But she is wonderful, and we are having a lot of fun, and her faith and obedience are bringing us miracles :)

Speaking of faith, I thought I understood faith until a few weeks ago. I am realizing that faith is SO POWERFUL. I read Ether 12 this week and I just loved it. I am realizing that faith is like us--it grows and stretches and is refined until it becomes perfect. We can´t have perfect faith yet, but we are working there. But the Lord stretches our faith and refines it and perfects it until we start to become more believing and trusting in Him. I am just pleading with the Lord for more faith because I´m realizing that the only limit to God´s miracles is our faith. I want to have the most faith I can possibly have so that the Lord can work miracles through me. The more faith we have, the more miracles we see. The gap between the faith and the miracles is patience. And that´s when we grow :) Seriously, I thought I knew what faith was until a few weeks ago, but the Lord is teaching me so, so much about it and how I need to have more faith--so I´m just pleading for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ah, fam, I just love you all so much. Thank you for all you do for me. A million times over. Seriously, I just love you all so much, I can´t even tell you. Thank you for being the most wonderful family in the world. I love you all SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love, Hermana Boyer :)

This is us with Ariadna, the cute girl who got baptized on Christmas :)

This is us with the Familia Vilar, the stake president´s family who is so, so funny!

This is Jenny with her Nativity--she was so, so happy!

Email from Catarroja

Hello, my beautiful family!!!!!!!!!

Feliz Navidad!!!!!!!!!!!!! Or Bon Nadal, as they say here in Valencia :) Yes, there is a different language here too haha. But wow, I can´t believe tomorrow is Christmas Eve! That is just wild! When does everyone get to Utah??? I bet it´s just such a party around there! I can´t even imagine. Promise that everyone will come back next year? I was thinking about last time I was home for Christmas and Mom and Dad and Andy and I opened our presents in the morning together haha! So funny. Man, I hope it´s the most magical Christmas ever. Take lots of pictures for me.

Man, this week was magical! It has felt like Christmas, but not really at the same time. It´s weird, but it´s been really good! We had our ward Christmas party talent show thing and that was fun. The elders and us made a dance to "I Hope They Call Me on a Mission," and it was the biggest fail ever haha. But hey, we tried. But Vanessa and Enrique came, so that was awesome! They loved it :)

But the best part of this week was that President and Hermana Pace came with us to visit Cristobal and Susana! It was absolutely magical. It was so perfect!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They were coming to Valencia for zone conference, so we just asked them to come Sunday night with us to see them. It was amazing! President is a miracle worker, I tell you. He has the Spirit so strongly that it´s just thick. But he´s also so chill and so funny, so it´s awesome. He was so cute with them and just loved them so much. He made them feel so loved and was amazing!!!!!!!! We read the Book of Mormon and talked about baptism, and President made Cristobal the most amazing promise. He said, "I have the authority to receive revelation from God, and I don´t know why, but I have the strongest feeling right now that I want to promise you that the moment you have the faith to be baptized, you will receive blessings and find a job." Dang! It was so powerful, I just grinned because it was so awesome, the spirit just came down like a wall. It was incredible; the Spirit was so strong the whole lesson! They want to get baptized, they are just scared.But they will in the next few weeks, we are absolutely positive. It was so wonderful, I can´t even tell you how special it was. I just loved it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We have had lots of miracles with finding a lot of wonderful people to teach and lots of things! The Lord has blessed us with so many people to teach right now, we are just so grateful! It´s the most wonderful blessing. We are so busy and so happy :)

Hermana O´Neill is so wonderful! I just love her! I love being a mom haha :) She is amazing! I really am learning so so much more from her than she´s learning from me. She has the strongest testimony and understanding of the gospel. She is amazing and is trying so hard to give it all she has. She has been adjusting--she gets super tired and kinda stressed, but I´m just helping her laugh it off and show her that it´s just fun and wonderful :) She is so fun too and we have a party together! She is so obedient and hard-working and is seriously amazing. I just love her! Training is definitely super crazy, cause you explain everything and teach everything and stuff, but it´s so awesome! She is teaching more and more and getting more confident, so that is awesome. It´s a wild adventure, but I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are so stoked for Christmas! We are eating with lots of families, and all the time in between we´ll be taking brownies to everyone in the world haha. Christmas morning we are going to be at home and have French toast and have it be super magical :) Wow, you have all spoiled me rotten! Thank you so much for your letters and packages! They are all under the tree. You have spoiled me so much, thank you a million times over :)

I can´t wait to talk to you and see you soon! :) Two DAYS until I can see your beautiful faces! Sorry it has to be so late! we are in charge of a baptism of the cutest 8-year-old girl and it´s at 7 on Christmas. But we will make it home by 8:30 :) I can´t wait! Keep your email open so that I can talk to you if I have problems. I only have 40 minutes haha so brace yourselves :) I can´t wait though!!!!!!!!!! Pretty much I just want to see your faces :)

Well team, this church is true! I just love Christmas so much! I just love how everyone is so happy and giving and are influenced by the Savior´s love. Yesterday in zone conference we were singing "Away in a Manger," the Spanish version, and I just started crying, because the words are so, so sweet--it´s better in Spanish haha. But it says, "I ask you Jesus to keep me, loving me always just like I love you." I know it sounds so cheesy, but it´s just so sweet. This baby is the Savior of the world, my Savior, my King, and my best friend. I am so grateful for the sacred, wonderful opportunity I have to wear His name on my chest everyday. I am so grateful--beyond words. I wouldn´t trade this for anything in the whole world. I have come to know my Savior so much and I can truly say He is my master, my Savior, my best friend, and my everything. I am so grateful to testify of Him all day, every day. I love it! 

I hope you have the most magical Christmas ever! I love you all so, so, so, so, so dearly and am so excited to see your faces!

LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hermana Boyer :)

Today we went ice-skating in the middle of Valencia, in the main square with all the beautiful old buildings and a huge Christmas tree and Christmas music!!!!!!! It was seriously the most magical moment of my life haha. We were so, so happy!!!!!


Hermana O´Neill and me! Isn´t she so cute?? :)


Hermana O´Neill and me with Santa Claus at the ward party :)

Being a Mom :)

Hello, family!!!!!!!! How are you all???? How is your Christmas season going? I hope it´s just magical with snow and everything! I hope you are all just loving it! Ah, Matt, I´m so jealous you are doing the ensemble season! We sang in the ward choir concert, and it made me think of ensemble and I missed it so much! Someone has to film that for me so I can see it! Promise?
How is everyone??? I hope you are all cozy and that it´s just a magical Christmas season :)

Well, my first week as a mom! haha. Man, training is the craziest, sweetest, most exhausting experience in my life! I love it so much though. I feel so blessed to have this opportunity. My sweet little companion is Hermana O´Neill! She is from San Jose, California, and is just amazing. She came out here knowing why she´s here, ready to work, and with the strongest testimony ever. She is so excited to be a missionary and is so fun and down to earth, and we are already such good friends :) This week has been pretty overwhelming for her with Spanish and teaching and how exhausting missionary life is. But she's getting more used to it and doing really well. We just hit the ground running this week! We were in Barcelona all day for the training meeting and didn't get home until super late. It´s just been crazy! But so good. The training meeting was so fun--they have all the trainees come up and then they announce who will train them, and when I found out I ran and gave her the biggest hug, and we were just so excited. It was really good. She is the best! She has brought a new energy and spirit that is amazing. I love living the mission life again through her eyes! It´s so fun how everything is new and exciting. I love watching her discover Spain too, it´s so magical! It has made me gain the biggest appreciation for Mom though!!!!!! You just worry about your kids, it´s crazy! I love it so much though haha :) We are just having adventures and already seeing so many miracles :)

This week we had a huge miracle with Enrique and Vanessa, that Spanish couple who came to church last week!!!!!! We were eating with them and we asked them if they have any questions about the church, because they are really uncomfortable with the church, and whenever we talk about it they kind of put up a wall. So they asked some questions about polygamy and stuff. Then we said, "What would you think if we taught you the doctrine of our church and what we´re all about, and you can see what you think and if you like it or not?" They were like, "Yeah, that´s what we wanted this whole time, but we were just embarrassed to ask about it! We always say how we love the feeling you bring into our house and we want you to come more so we found out what it is." WOW! We were so surprised!!!!!!! They are like super liberal and kind of hippies haha and so we were just so surprised. But they were so excited and said they would love it if we taught them. We are so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It´s crazy cause last week Hermana Shake and I were fasting to have 2 baptisms this month, and we just assumed it would be Cristobal and Susana because they are so close. But that was the day Enrique and Vanessa came to church--right when we were fasting to have 2 baptisms! Coincidence--I think not!!!!!! :) So pretty much we are going to get them baptized soon :) We are so excited! It was amazing.

Cristobal and Susana are still progressing and reading and praying and everything, but their daughter has some serious health problems, and they are just devastated by it. Cristobal came to church yesterday and just sobbed because of how hurt they are. So they are really worried and don´t want to get baptized until they can help their daughter. So we are just trying to be the best support we can and just love them. So we´re so sad for them cause they are hurting so much. But I know they will get baptized, it´s just a matter of time :)

Everything else is really good! We are having so much fun with the ward--the ward here is the best thing in the world. The members are SO wonderful!!!!!!!!!! They are so sweet and fun, and I just adore them. There is a little girl getting baptized (who´s 8), and they asked us to teach her all the lessons, and it´s been so fun. We also found a lot of new investigators this week, which was a huge miracle! So things are just awesome! It doesn't really feel like Christmas yet, but that´s okay! We have our Christmas music and lights, so that´s good :) I think next week will though, so that will be fun.

This week I have been learning a lot about faith. I am just fascinated by faith, because I keep thinking I understand it, and then I learn so much more about it. This week I learned that if you have faith and ask in faith, there is literally nothing you can´t do. Faith is a principle bigger than God--He has to respect faith. So when we ask in faith, He has to respect it because it´s a law even bigger than Him. All of the prophets and missionaries in the scriptures had success because of all the faith they had. When we have faith, the Lord has no choice--He has to bless us. Isn't that so cool? Faith is the most powerful thing in the whole world. The Lord works according to our faith--the more faith we have, the more miracles we see. It´s amazing! I´m just doing everything I can to strengthen my faith so I have lots of faith! :)

Well fam, I just love you all so much! Thank you so much for your love and support and always being there for me. I am so grateful for all you do for me, and I just love you all so much! Thank you a million times over for all you do for me. "See" you next week! :)

Love, Hermana Boyer :)


P.S. Sorry, I will send photos this week--we didn't really take any this week. I promise promise promise pictures next week :)

Also, we have zone conference next week on Monday, so we won´t write until Tuesday :)

Also, about Skyping--so that little girl in the ward is getting baptized on Christmas Day at 7--so I think we will have to wait to Skype until about 8:30--I think that´s like 12:30 for you guys. Is that too late? Let me know your thoughts. I love you all so much!

Mi Primera Hija :)

Hello, wonderful family! 

How are you doing??? How is the Chrismas season?! I hope you are all just loving it all. Has it snowed there yet? Have you all been skiing it up for me? I hope so! I hope it´s a wonderful season and you´re just soaking it up :) Thank you so much for all the love this week! Sam and Lucy--thank you SO much for the pen and bracelet! That was the cutest thing in the whole world--I just loved it so much. :) And a huge shout out to the Holladay 3rd Ward for the letters! I just loved them! That was the sweetest thing, and I loved hearing from everyone! Tell them thank you so much--that was so cute.

Well . . . there´s lots of emotions going on right now haha. I am going to have my first daughter--I´m training!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! I just don´t know how to feel haha. I´m so excited, so nervous, I don´t even know. How do you bring a child into this world of a mission? haha. So I´m here in Valencia with the hermanas there, and one of the hermanas and I will go to Barcelona tomorrow for the training meeting first with President, then later we find out who our companions are :) It´s way nerve-wracking,  cause you don´t find out who your companion is until he announces it! But it will be a great adventure. I´m so grateful the Lord gave me this opportunity, even though I hardly feel qualified for it! Give me tips please! Thoughts? Tell me how to train, cause I have no idea haha. I´m so excited though, it will be an adventure :)

This week was wild! So many miracles, laughs, and heartaches. Huge miracle: We called up some old investigators from the area book, and one of them let us come over. We go in, and he and his wife were there and were so awesome! They were super, super sweet and want us to teach them! Woohoo!

Cristobal and Susana! Oh my. Sweetest people in the whole world. So we went over this week and Susana was feeling really nervous about her fecha. We talked to her and the Spirit was so strong. Something finally clicked for her, and she realized she had never truly, sincerely asked God if the Book of Mormon is true. She knelt down right there and we prayed, and she asked if it was, and the Spirit was so strong. Something changed in her, and she got so excited for her baptism! It was amazing! The only hard thing is they had a really sad thing happen with one of their kids this week (they have 3 teenage kids), and that has been hard for them, and so we haven´t been able to teach them as much. But we taught them about the atonement, and it was so strong. They are even more humble now than they were, and I know they will get baptized--I´m just putting all my faith and trust that it can be on the 20th. (We moved it back). So pray for miracles, fam! They are so ready, they just need that little push. But they are the sweetest people in the whole, wide world, and they will get baptized, and I´m so stoked :) 

Vanessa and Enrique: So one of the members named Patricia is in an English class and studies with her friend Vanessa. We've been helping them practice English this whole time. Vanessa and Enrique are liberal Spaniards, a young Spanish couple that are kind of hippies haha--I love them! And they are so friendly but uncomfortable about the church. But this week they invited us to go make paella with them in the mountains. So we went and it was so fun--we had a blast! (Unfortunately, on the way there I had to tell her to stop the car, and I lost my breakfast in the garbage can next to the car!!! So funny haha. Then later while we were eating, I look down and a HUGE--I mean HUGE--spider was on my lap, and I freaked out. I guess I've gotten too high maintenance for the mountains haha! It was so funny). But anyway, we invited them to stake conference, not imagining they would ever want to come. But on Sunday morning, THEY CAME!!!!!!!! And stayed the whole time, and sang the hymns, and heard President and Hermana Pace speak! It was the biggest miracle ever. I am so stoked for them! Woohoo!

Transfers: Let´s be honest. When we got the call on Saturday that Hermana Shake was leaving, I cried so hard. Seriously, it was crazy. We were so sad we couldn't sleep haha. The four of us here are super close, and we were all changing and we thought we would be here for Christmas, and so we were all super sad. But it´s okay! I´m still super excited for Christmas with my sweet little greenie :) But yeah, saying bye to Hermana Shake was so hard. It was crazy. I don´t think I've ever had that hard of a time saying bye to a companion. We were just bffs from the very first moment. And we've just had so many adventures and laughs this transfer that have bonded us so much. But it´s okay--I´m stoked for this opportunity to train :)

Things are crazy and I´m nervous, but super good. I´m loving Catarroja and the people so, so much. They are so wonderful. :)

This week I´ve been reading about the Savior´s ministry to the Lamanites and it´s just amazing!!!!!!!!! I was so touched by how after the Savior left the first time, they all were praying to have the Spirit with them again. Then the Savior comes and prays with them and tells them to "pray on." Then they become purified by the prayer. Prayer purifies. It is our direct communication with our Heavenly Father who is perfect. When we talk to Him, the Spirit comes so strongly and purifies us because we are talking to a perfect being! We are talking to God--the Creator of everything--our Maker. It purifies us. I just love that so much. I love the feeling after a good prayer and you feel clean and purified. I want that all the time. I don´t think we realize the power of our prayers. Prayers call down the power of heaven. And I'm going to be doing a lot of praying as I help this wonderful new hermana have a special first chapter of her mission :)

I love this work, I love Spain, I love the people, I love the missionaries, I love my Savior. And I love YOU! Thank you so much for all you do for me--I can´t say it enough. I absolutely adore everyone of you and can´t wait to see your cute faces soon (over Skype) :)
I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hermana Boyer

P.S. Can someone send me a recipe for Snickerdoodles and any other easy Christmas treat? Thank you! :)

Happy December!!

Hello, my beautiful family! 

How are you doing??? How was Thanksgiving for you all?? It sounds like St. George was a blast, and I hope it was fun for everyone else too! I was thinking about y'all hoping it was wonderful :) It´s officially Christmas season! I am so excited, I can barely stand it! We set up our cute little tree and hung up some lights, and we are so happy it´s Christmas! I can´t believe it´s December already! That is just wild. How is everyone? I hope you are all happy and loving life :)

Our Thanksgiving was so much fun! Here it´s not a thing at all, nobody knows about it, so we made our own Thanksgiving :) There are two elders here with us in Catarroja and we are all buddies, so we ate with them. The two of us made all this food--you guys would be so proud! We made mashed potatoes (they don´t have those here, so we had to invent how to make them, but they turned out so good!), rolls (a sketchy recipe from the elders that actually turned out well!), vegetables, pumpkin cookies, and pumpkin shakes :) And the elders bought a big chicken, cause there are no turkeys here haha. It was so magical! We ate in the church and it was so fun. We were all so happy, and it was magical :) I was thinking about you guys, though, hoping that it was good. Oh yeah, and last Monday all the missionaries in our zone had a turkey bowl, and we played flag football haha! It was so funny. The next day we were all so sore, we could seriously barely walk. Our bodies are becoming so old from being missionaries! It´s wild haha. It was super fun though :)

This week we had some amazing miracles!!!!!!!!!!! Susan and Cristobal are getting baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wohooo!!!!!!! They are the couple from Ecuador who are just the sweetest, most humble people in the world. They are so wonderful! We have been trying to get them to be baptized forever, but they always say they are scared and don´t want to mess up after baptism. Finally in this cita, we talked about the Doctrine of Christ and the sacrament and baptism and exactly what it means, and we had the old bishop come with us. He gave an incredible testimony about the Savior. The Spirit was SO strong, and they finally said they would prepare to be baptized for the 13th of December. It was amazing! They said they hadn't given God time to answer their questions, and they are going to read and pray and really prepare for this. They have come to church about four times and have tons of member friends, so it´s so good! We are so happy, we can barely stand it. They are the most wonderful people ever and we are so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then we had a lesson with a friend of a member named Claudia. She has come to a few activities and really liked them. She´s from Peru and is a young mom. We had the most amazing cita with her where she told us how she feels too unworthy to follow the Savior and how she never feels like she can be good enough. I have felt that way SO many times, so I was able to tell her how I have been overcoming that with the help of the Savior and especially the Book of Mormon. It was such an incredible cita; the Spirit was so strong, and we all felt it so strongly. She said she was so excited to read the Book of Mormon, she could barely wait to get home and read it :) We are so excited about her, and she is amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pretty much, things are really good here :) Catarroja is kind of a hard area in some ways, because it´s such a small town that everyone already knows about the Church, so finding new people is really hard. But it´s wonderful, because the members are so, so, so, so sweet and humble and just the most loving people I have ever met. They are all so willing to help us and are so good about inviting their friends to things. So we are seeing a lot of miracles. I just love these people; I can´t even tell you how cute they are. I am so excited to spend Christmas with them :)

I love being a missionary! I just love it. I love thinking about the things we did in a day--it´s just so fun to spend all our time and energy in bringing people to Christ. Like this week we were with a less-active family and we were like, "What can we do so you come to church?! We NEED you there!!!!!!" They said, "Okay, come ring our door at 9, and you can eat breakfast with us." So we went yesterday before church and ate breakfast with them and got them to church. It was so fun! I just love it. I love having the chance to invite people to Christ. This morning I was looking at my chapa, and I just felt so overwhelmed with the question, "Why does the Lord trust me with the salvation of these people? Why does he trust ME to wear His name on my chest?" But something that I am learning is that the Lord never called us to be perfect servants; He called us to try our best, to love, and to do what He asks. That is all he wants! Something I read in a manual the other day said that "repentance is not God´s back up plan"--that IS the plan. Repentance is something we do every day, so that every morning we can wake up completely clean, with a new slate. That is the plan, to repent every day, and He gives us the opportunity to be clean. I think that is amazing, cause before my mission I always thought repentance was a scary thing that you only did if you had done something really bad. But no, it´s something that allows us to be clean every single day, and it´s the way we apply the atonement and God´s mercy in our lives. I am so grateful for His mercy and the chance He gives us to repent :)

I love you all SO much, I can barely stand it. Thank you so much for being my support and for always being there! I am the luckiest missionary ever to have you as my family :) I love you all madly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love, Hermana Boyer :)

P.S. Transfers are next week, so I won´t email until Tuesday! :) And yes, Hermana Shake and I have been praying for the last two weeks that we will be together for Christmas haha :) I just adore her!

This is us having our magical Thanksgiving dinner haha :)

This is the Catarroja crew--aren't we cool? :)

Come Listen to a Prophet's Voice

Hello, my wonderful family!

How are you all???? How has your week been??? Are you all so excited for Thanksgiving!!! I hope you have so much fun in St. George and wherever else you are! Is it getting super cold there? Please tell me you are all skiing it up for me! Okay, I´m not trunky at all, but when I think about skiing it makes me trunky haha. I miss it SO MUCH. But it´s okay, I would rather be here!!!!!! :)

This week was full of miracles! This week was so special, because guess who came to our mission?! Elder Quentin L. Cook!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was amazing! We were so blessed. It was so funny--last week in our training, President Pace was like, "So does anyone have any plans next Saturday?" I thought he would tell us to come to a service project or something. He was like, "Oh, cause Elder Cook is coming to Barcelona if any of you want to come." WHAT?! We were all freaking out! It was amazing! It was in Barcelona, so we all traveled the 4 hours to Barc together, and almost the entire mission was there. It was just Elder Cook, his wife, Mary Cook, and Elder Robambo (?) from the Seventy--just us and them in this chapel in Barc! It was incredible! When we entered the room, the whole room changed. It was incredible, the spirit he brought. And he shook all of our hands! It was so neat, I just loved it. It was such a cool meeting because he was so relaxed and real with us. He told us about how he was super involved in writing Preach My Gospel and talked to us about writing it and things he wanted us to know from it. Then he did a question-and-answer section, and I just loved it. He was incredible, pulling out scriptures to answer our questions. Then he told us about his experience being called as an apostle and how when President Hinckley asked him, he was just weeping because he felt so inadequate. He told us how he just couldn't understand how the Lord would trust him with that, and he related it to us and told us that no matter how inadequate we feel, it doesn't matter, because the Lord knows what He´s doing. It was so special, because you never think about the apostles being nervous and going through that. He also told us some really special experiences praying in the temple with the other apostles and First Presidency. It was pretty specific and really neat to hear about it. I just loved it; it just filled us all so much. It was incredible being taught at the feet of an apostle of the living Savior, Jesus Christ. It was such a special privilege, and we felt so blessed from it.

Oh, cool fact--did you guys know that Elder Cook and Elder Holland were mission companions together in Britain?? Crazy!

We had so many amazing miracles this week! It was incredible. We are finding so many people t o teach and it´s so exciting.

One huge miracle was that we were able to teach the family of a woman in our ward whose son has been less-active for a long time. His wife has never wanted us to come over and teach them. But we had a noche de hogar with his brother, and we had such a powerful lesson about the Savior. Then she invited us over last night!!!! We taught them and they have SO much potential. They are such a cute family, and the dad (the menos activo) was testifying to his wife about the BOM and this spark came out in him. We are so excited! We are super excited to teach them, and I know they will get baptized :)

Also, we are working with Cristobal and Susana, that couple from Ecuador, and they are the sweetest people in the whole world! I just love them. They are so ready and incredible, they are just in the middle of a move, so we can never meet with them for very long. But they came to church this week, and we see them all the time. THIS week now that the move is finally over, we are going to set fechas with them and get them going for reals! I am so excited about it.

The Lord is blessing us so much with people to teach, it´s incredible. The members here are so wonderful, I just love them. Catarroja has a charm and it´s just so cute. It´s this little, tiny Spanish town, but with just tons of members! It´s so fun, I love it. And Hermana Shake is the BEST! We have so much fun together! She is so funny--she is so spunky and funny but works so hard too. We seriously just float down the streets together just having so much fun. We get along perfectly and just love every minute. We are both praying so hard that she stays here for Christmas! I just love her.
Life is so good here! I just love this work so much. I was struck so much when we were with Elder Cook that this is THE CHURCH that Jesus Christ established--the exact same church. He is an apostle just like Peter and all of the other apostles. Why can´t everyone in the world know this???? I always tell people in the streets that we have the EXACT SAME church that Jesus Christ established, and so many people just brush it off. I want everyone to understand it so much! We have a prophet and people inspired to lead this church--it´s led by God Himself. What an incredible blessing. This church lives and grows, just like its members. I am so grateful to have this restored church in my life! I love this church and this gospel with my whole heart. I cherish every minute I have to represent the Lord and wear His name on my chest. I love it so much!

I love you all so much! Thank you so much for your support and love and all you do for me! Know that I just absolutely every one of your beautiful faces! :) Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Love, Hermana Boyer :)

This is us eating Paella with this couple that is so cute! Paella is the most typical Spanish food :)

This is Hermana Shake and me! :)

This is us and the elders here at the open house for our chapel :)

Thanksgiving Pumpkins :)

Hello, my wonderful family!!!!!!!!

How are you all???? How has your week been? I hear it´s getting chilly over on that side of the world! :) Haha. Here it is getting pretty cold, actually--not super super cold, but cold. I like it though--I never realized how much I like the cold until I got here! Anyway, how are you guys?? I hope you are all happy and doing super well. :)

This week was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!! Okay, so last week, to be honest, I was getting a little discouraged, because none of our investigators were progressing, and we were trying so, so hard to find new investigators but just couldn't find anyone that would really listen. So on Sunday night I just pleaded with the Lord that he would give us new people to teach, and I promised Him I would do everything I possibly could to find them. This week we were blessed with so many miracles! It was unbelievable. I am so grateful I can barely stand it! 

Here are some of our miracles:

-We went to pass by an old investigator and that person doesn't live there, but a different woman lives there, and she was super open and knows about the Church and is going to let us come back!

-We went to pass by a different old investigator and as we came out, a member was in the street and told us that that woman is his sister and she almost got baptized but lost contact with the missionaries! He is going to help us teach her again. Then he gave us three other people who almost got baptized and gave us their addresses!

-We were walking with a member from a cita and he told us that there was a menos activo who lived in a building we passed by who loves giving missionaries people to teach and that she has tons of friends who want to be taught. Yay!

-The family of a member in our ward has always declined visits from the missionaries, but we did a FHE with them this week and had a super powerful lesson about the Savior, and they are going to let us back this week!!!!!!!!

-We were walking and I got a super strong feeling to contact a lady, so we ran and chased her down haha, and it turns out she almost got baptized a few years ago! She didn't want us to come back, but we got the feeling to testify about Heavenly Father. We did and she said we could meet with her this week!

-We had an open house cause this church is probably the nicest chapel in Spain--it´s gorgeous! And hardly anyone came. Finally we went and looked for people, and one of our investigators showed up in the last 3 minutes! (That was the picture that a member put on Facebook that you all saw haha.)

-We had a FHE with the ward where we carved pumpkins and so many people came! Here the FHEs aren't very big, so we wanted to make them big. So we carved pumpkins and it was so fun! We are hoping people bring their friends next time :)

-Oh another miracle, we went to buy 20 pumpkins and had this huge load and couldn't carry them, and right as we stepped out of the store, the elders walked around the corner! It was so perfect haha.

-One more--we had an incredible conference with President and Hermana Pace this week and it was so amazing! They are so filled with the Spirit, it´s just unreal. But President told me that he and Hermana Pace visited the Familia Amigó again!!!!!! He said they are going to visit them every few weeks. WAHOO!!!!!!!!!! I was so happy I just cried!

Man, the Lord is so good to us. It´s unreal. I just have to say that prayer WORKS. I feel like the past two weeks I was praying SO hard and just nothing was happening. But that doesn't mean that Heavenly Father didn't hear my prayer, He just knew I needed to learn. Last night as I was praying I had the sweetest experience, and I had the strongest feeling that someone was listening. I realized that Heavenly Father really listens. It´s like when we talk on the phone--someone is there on the other side listening. It´s the same with Him--He hears our prayers in the moment we say them. Just because we don´t see the result right then doesn't mean He hasn't heard us. It just hit me so hard and it meant so much to me. I think that prayer means even more to Heavenly Father than it does for us--He wants to hear from us so badly because we are His children. I know He is my Father, and my relationship with Him in the past 13 months has grown so much, I can´t even explain. Now I understand so much more what it means to be His child, and I am so grateful for that.

Man, sorry I keep getting mushy on you guys! It´s crazy, I just get emotional all the time now, like every time I see a picture of the Savior I get emotional--I think when you´re wearing His name on your chest and He is everything you have in a whole different world, He just feels so much closer.
Okay, I´m sorry for getting all mushy! Missions just melt hearts I guess haha.

But I want you all to know that I love you SO MUCH! I am grateful for you and all you do for me, and I just love you all so much. Have a wonderful week and know that there is a little Hermana in Spain who just adores you!

Love, Hermana Boyer :)

(This is the picture that a branch member posted of the open house.)

Catarroja!!

Hello my wonderful family! 

How are you all???? How is your fall?? Are you guys freezing over there??? Cause all of the sudden it´s freezing here! We went from short sleeves to coats and boots in like 24 hours haha. It wouldn't be that cold except the darn humidity just goes straight to your bones. But it´s great; I didn't realize how much I love the cold until I got out here, but I love it!

Huge shout out to Martha and Boo--Happy Birthday! I hope you have a wonderful day!!!!! And I can't believe that the Birks are having a girl!!!!! Ah, that makes me so happy I can barely stand it! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited for all these babies, it´s not even funny :)

This week was really good! Catarroja is wonderful :) The people are absolutely the sweetest people ever. They are so loving, and they just shower us with love and food and excitement about the work. They really are incredible. I just love them all! I feel so at home here, because everyone is just so sweet. It´s also fun getting to know an area being older in the mission, because now I know how to learn an area, and it´s hardly been an adjustment cause I just feel at home! Except I still miss the people from Zaragoza so much I can barely think about it without getting teary. But it´s okay--they are all writing me, and we are going to be bffs forever :)

So the work here is super different than I've ever seen it! It´s crazy cause it´s such a small pueblo that everyone knows us. So almost everyone we contact already knows who we are and knows the members. So we work all through the members and it´s great! The only thing is that the transfer before there were some baptisms here, which is so awesome! But our investigator pool has had to start over, so we´re just trying to get stuff going. But we have some great investigators! We are teaching a couple from Ecuador named Cristobal (yes I know, great name haha) and Susana. They are so sweet and love everything about the church. They have been in the middle of a move since I got here, so we have just been helping them with that. The ward is so cute and have completely taken over the move, helping them and doing everything for them. But this couple is incredible. They are already members, basically, with how strong their testimonies are--they´re just too afraid to get baptized! But this week the move will be over so we can really teach them, and we will set a baptism date with them, cause they are incredible. They are getting baptized for sure!

We have tons of investigators that are friends and family of members! It´s so good--except none of them are really progressing. So we are praying super hard for miracles with these people and that we can find people who will progress. But we are so lucky to have members that want to share the gospel. The work here is great! We are just praying to see more progress in the people here, but I know it will come :)

I just love it here though, really. Hermana Shake is incredible! She is such a powerhouse--she is super bold with people, but so loving about it that she can be bold. Everyone just loves her cause she just gets right to people's hearts haha. I just love her! It´s so fun being with a pretty new missionary, cause she is still experiencing stuff for the first time, and it´s just refreshing. We are having so much fun :)
Funny story this week! So Hermana Shake had to go to Barc for her papers, so I was with Hermana Manwill (who went to Oly) in Valencia. We went to visit a new investigator from India. The whole time we just felt weird, cause she was asking us all these odd questions. Finally she asked if we could help her with something. We were like, "Of course! Anything!" She asked us if we could come with her to England to help her with her marriage papers. Surprised, we explained to her that we can´t, we have to stay here, but we can help translate them for her here. She said, "Well, I need to you sign them." We were like what??? And she was like (oh and this was all whispering, which put me on edge on the first place haha), "Well, I need you to marry my brother." (She was dead serious.) "My brother needs to come to Spain but can only come if he´s married to someone here, and they need to speak English so he can talk to them. But if you already have boyfriends, you can just sign the paper and divorce him in two years--like you don´t even have to live with him if you don´t want to. He´s really handsome, though, so you probably would anyway." WHAT! We were dying! She was so serious that it was just crazy.She seriously tried to convince us to marry her brother for like 45 minutes, and we were inching to the door trying to escape haha. It was WILD. We left and we said to each other, "Things like this just don´t happen in Holladay. . ." Haha! Spain is a wild adventure, I´ll tell ya. I love it though :) So maybe if I don´t get married in the next 20 years I have an option :)

Okay now for a really cool experience--this was the best! So I was with Hermana Manwill in Valencia and she was showing me some old Liahonas from the 1980s (like the Ensign, but for other countries). I was looking through them and they were so cool. I look through a conference issue and see a picture. I looked at a picture and my first thought was--that woman has Dad´s eyes. Then I realized it was Grandma Boyer!!!!!!! I looked at the caption and sure enough, it said that it was Marian Boyer--the first counselor in the General RS Presidency! I don´t know where I've been for 21 years, but somehow I missed that Grandma was in the General RS Presidency! I was so surprised! I was so happy that I could barely contain it! What are the chances--looking in Spain in an old Ensign and come across a picture of Grandma Boyer! It was such a special experience. It was actually exactly what I needed. It made me realize that I come from a long line of people serving and giving to the Lord--I need to keep up with my heritage and give everything I have. It was so special for me, because I don´t remember Grandma Boyer very well, but I do remember how she made me feel so special and she was always excited about what I was doing. As I looked at the picture of her, I felt the same way. I just knew that she is here with me, along with all my grandparents, being the angels that surround me. I know they watch over all of us, and I know they are aware of my mission and are helping Spaniards on the other side :) Wow now I´m totally crying here, but it was just so special to have that connection with her, and I know it was a tender mercy of the Lord. This work is real on both sides of the veil, I know that with my whole heart. I love this work so much, and how grateful I am to come from a heritage of people that have served and loved the Lord. I hope I can carry that on here on the other side of the world. 

I love you all so much, I can´t even type it cause it´s not adequate! I just love you so much, I can´t even tell you. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all you do and all you are for me. I love you so much, and have a wonderful week :)

Love, Hermana Boyer

This is Hermana Shake and I outside the chapel before church :)

This is us in front of a cathedral in Valencia

This is the picture of Grandma Boyer :)

Happy Halloween!!!

Hola mi hermosa, bella familia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, I am just positively giddy about the Johnsons having a girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is so perfect! I was thinking about it just last night, actually, wondering if anyone had found out the gender yet!!!!!!!!! AHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! And Birks, you find out this week! You have to tell me the second you know! (Well, just before Monday, I guess.) Haha. But I think I tell everyone in the world who asks about my family that I have three sobrinos that will be born right around when I get home! I just get giddy thinking about all the kids there will be :) Ah! And Lindsay--Happy Birthday this week! I hope you have such a wonderful week! I feel like it's been ages since I've seen you! Oh wait. . . haha :) But I hope it´s wonderful :) How was Halloween for everyone? I saw some pictures and they were just darling! I bet it was so fun. Halloween here is kind of lame--everyone refers to it as an American holiday, so they don´t do much. We did have a dance of costumes, and it was super fun! It´s more about the costumes than the candy or anything like that. We couldn't dress up, but Hermana Shake and I ate candy and watched the District that night haha :)

Well . . . Catarroja! I am absolutely, madly in love with this little city. Imagine Balboa Island--if it was Spaniard, all the apartments were different colors, and 40 minutes away from the ocean instead of right in it. So pretty! Then imagine if about 150 members lived on Balboa island and there was an incredible ward there. That´s what it is! Catarroja is so, so little! We seriously see members every 5 minutes in the street, and we know everyone! It´s so little but so, so cute and charming. We live on the main street--it would be like the little main street in Balboa with shops and everything (except it's not quite as magical and a little dirtier). But still super cute. This is seriously the perfect area--all the members are incredible! Everyone is so willing to share the gospel--all the investigators we have almost are members' friends and family. Everyone here knows each other, so it´s all about connecting the dots and teaching members' friends and family. It's the best thing ever! I just love it. By the time I got to church on Sunday, I knew at least half the ward, cause we had seen them all during the week. And we eat with members every day! (I was going to start a diet, but hey, whatever!) haha it´s the best though. 

Catarroja is very Spainard. There are still Africans and South Americans,but it´s mostly Spaniards. Mom, you asked about the Spanish here--they speak faster and more lazy than in the northern part where I was, but I can understand it. I've been really lucky and haven´t had to worry about Spanish since my 3rd or 4th transfer. I am still working on my grammar and mostly my accent, but I understand everything. I love Spanish! Now Spanish almost comes out easier than English haha.
The ward is so great! It has the warmest feeling about it. Everyone was so sweet on Sunday and was so welcoming. I bore my testimony and the RS president sat next to me as I was about to go up. She´s so sweet--she held my hand the whole time before I got up. How cute is that? It´s a wonderful place, and I already love these people so much.

Hermana Shake is the best! We are already best friends. She is so so chill and so fun, but also works so hard. Oh dad, she is from Richmond--I was wrong last time haha. But she has been out two transfers, so I´m the first companion besides her trainer (who is one of my closest friends in the mission). But I just love Hermana Shake! We laugh so much, work hard, and we just love life here. Its a different adventure being senior companion, but I love it, cause I´m learning a lot, and it´s so fun being with a pretty new missionary, cause everything is still new and super exciting to them.
Most of the people we are teaching have been taught for a long time, but we have been praying so hard that they will progress and mostly that the Lord would help us find more people to teach. We have found so many! It´s the biggest blessing. I know there are so many miracles waiting for us here; I can barely wait to get going.

So this morning I was reading in Jesus the Christ about the story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus and how Christ walked with them in disguise. I was so struck by this story! What struck me was that the disciples were talking about how they didn't believe Christ could be back again. But Christ, in disguise, talks to them about how he had read all these prophecies and knew that Christ would come back. Then he took the time to walk and talk with them and even to eat with them. It was when he broke and blessed the bread that they realized who he was, and right then he vanished. What struck me so much was that rather than come down with angels and fire and chastise the apostles for not believing, he went with them in disguise to help them realize by themselves. He took the time to walk with them, talk with them, and even eat with them to help them understand and remember. I love that so much and it occurred to me that that´s what He does with us. Christ walks with us and talks with us and takes the time to teach us individually, so that we can learn and do what He wants us to do. He loves us so much that He walks with us individually and loves us individually. I love my Savior with everything I have. I have felt my heart burn within me as He has walked with me, especially as I have served Him as a missionary. I have felt Him walk beside me and help me be better, in His humble, not-seeking-for-glory way. I love my Savior with all my heart, and I feel so, so privileged and blessed to be His servant.

Family, I love you! Thank you thousands of times over for your love and support. I couldn't do this without you guys. Know that you are always in my thoughts and prayers and I am so grateful for a family like you. I love you with all my heart! 

Love, Hermana Boyer :)

P.S. I'm so, so sorry--I forgot my camera cord, so I can´t send pictures! I promise, though, I will send lots of pictures next week :) Sorry!!!! But you can look up Catarroja online if you want to see how cute it is :)

I'm Alive, I Promise!

Hola familia!!!!!!!!!! How are you all???? I´m so so sorry that it´s taken me so long to write you all! Things have been crazy over here!!!!! How are you all??? How was your week? How were all the birthday celebrations??? I hope everyone had so much fun :) I realized that it´s Cocoa´s birthday today, so if you could all give her a giant hug and slobbery kiss I would love that :) I hope you are all doing well and very happy! :)

So this week was wild!!!!!! I am now in . . . drumroll . . . Catarroja!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It´s the south of Spain, right outside of Valencia!!!!!! Valencia is the city most south in the mission, and it´s HUGE, and I think it's every missionary´s dream to go there. It has a completely different culture, and it´s incredible. Everyone wants to come here because the people are so amazing and the culture is so fun. I am so excited!!!!!!! Catarroja is so cute! So we are right outside of Valencia--like 20 minutes away. There are four missionaries here and we have a giant ward!!!!!! I am so excited! The members seem amazing. And my companion is Hermana Shake! Oh my goodness, she is the cutest thing ever. I think she is literally the most chill person I have ever met. We are already best friends, for reals. :) She just finished her training, so I am senior companion for the first time! So that will be a good adventure :) She is already such an incredible missionary, and I am so excited to work with her. She is from Virginia, like an hour north of DC. She is the best!

This city is SO cute. It´s exactly like Newport Beach, except the ocean is like 20 minutes away rather than right there. (I'm glad it´s not in our area, cause I would probably get trunky for Balboa haha!) But it's so pretty! It´s the cutest little place with palm trees, and all the houses are different colors with patterned tiles--it´s just like how you imagine the south of Spain. I am already in love with it. And it's HOT. I´m kind of sad, actually, cause I didn't realize 'til I got here that I love the cold! So I had to drag out my summer clothes again, but it´s okay :) I´m so excited to be here.

Leaving Zaragoza was one of the hardest things I have ever done. It was so hard. I can't even tell you how much the people there mean to me. It was so interesting, because when I left Badalona, I was so sad because the people had taken care of me cause I was new, and they had just taken me in. But here, when I left people kept thanking me for what I had done for their families and it wasn't just a love but a respect. It was so interesting. The people in Zaragoza are so wonderful and loving, but you have to earn it. And the feeling that I had earned their love was incredible. It´s weird, because one of the biggest feelings I felt as I left was accomplishment, which really surprised me. I thought I would leave just feeling completely heartbroken, and I was, but I felt really accomplished. I felt like I did what I needed to do there, and I don't have any regrets. I can say that I gave seriously everything I have to Zaragoza--my blood, sweat, and tears. Zaragoza has completely changed me. I feel like there I learned so, so much about who I am and who the Lord wants me to be. I did so much refining there that I feel like I shed a skin when I left--I left so much behind me there and I was really refined into more of who the Lord wants me to be. It was one challenge after the other, but I was showered with blessings and miracles. The ground of Zaragoza will always be sacred to me, because I became closer to my Savior there than I think anywhere else in my life.

Leaving the people was so hard. President Gomez and Resu are so, so wonderful, but they don't cry often, and they aren't very sentimental always. But all three of us were a huge mess crying when I left. It surprised me so much! The whole ward council cried when I left, and I was so surprised. I didn't realize I had made that much of a difference. Saying bye to Tatiana´s family was one of the hardest things I've ever done. My last time with them I went through the steps we had set together when I got there in May of how they were going to go to the temple. We went through and they all just said how much they have changed since then and the kids said how they never thought they could be members, and now here they are--completely active, sharing the gospel with their friends, doing baptisms--it´s incredible. They are the biggest miracle of my life. I seriously felt sick the whole week before just thinking of saying bye to them. If it wasn't for the fact that we are coming back in April, I probably would've died haha. They were so sweet--they gave me a beautiful skirt and scarves and all these notes that totally made me cry. People were so sweet--everyone just kept showering me with gifts and hugs and kisses and letters and photos. I felt so spoiled. We all just cried and cried together, and it was the sweetest thing of my life. Even when we said bye to the Familia Amigó, they were sad I was leaving, and they said they were so grateful for how I had taken care of their family-- he said that I have done more for him than I even know. That meant the world to me. It was so sweet--while we were going around saying bye to everyone my last day, people were calling each other trying to figure out which house I was in to come give me gifts! I couldn't believe it. I definitely don´t deserve that love, but I am so grateful for it. These people are so wonderful. They are everything in the world to me, and they will always have a huge, huge part of my heart.

It was so hard saying goodbye, and I feel like I left a huge part of my heart there, but at the same time, I feel ready for a change. I feel like there I learned who I was and kind of what I am doing, and now I´m just ready to put it into action and go for it. I'm so excited to just give it everything I have and just go for it. It´s really weird knowing that this is probably my last area, and it makes me just want to give it everything I have and just go for it. So that´s what I am going to do :) 

I love this work, and I am so grateful for the chance to be a missionary. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. 

Sorry this is so sentimental and mushy haha. I've just gone through lots of emotions, and I guess this is how I'm letting them out haha. But know that I love you all more than you know and I am so, so grateful for your love and prayers. Have a wonderful week!!!!!!!!!

Love, Hermana Boyer :)

P.S. This is my new address :)

Avenida la Rambleta Nº59, esc. 2, Pta. 31
Catarroja, Valencia 46470
Spain

This is the familia Amigó! :)

This is the Wolfart Family--probably the most faithful family I have ever met.

This is Raquel´s family and their giant horse of a dog haha. I love them so much!

Email from Zaragoza

Hello, my wonderful, beautiful family!!!!

How are you all??? How is everyone? Is everyone getting stoked for Halloween?? I can´t wait to see the pictures of everyone all dressed up! I didn't realize it was an American thing until I got here and everyone laughed that we are carving pumpkins for the YSA activity this week haha. But hey, it´s fun! But I hope you are all doing well and happy! I can´t believe all the birthdays this week! Liv, Alex, and Josh!!!!!!! I can´t believe how old they will all be! Be sure to give each one of them a huge hug and kiss from me!!!!! I can´t believe that Josh will be a deacon! Ah, that is wild. Tell everyone to stop growing up! Huge shout out to Reenie and Kim--thank you SO much for the package this week! Oh my goodness, it was absolutely magical. Thank you thousands of times over!!!!!!

Things here are really good! We had a really good week!!!!!!!!!! The highlight of the week was President Pace coming with us to the Familia Amigó! Oh my goodness, it was perfect. So President was here for interviews, and he interviewed us last, and then we went with him to their pueblo. It was weird having him there when we contacted and everything haha but so good! We were contacting on the bus and he kept coming in and saying, "These girls have a really important message--you really should listen to them." And he´s a big guy, so people listen! It was awesome haha. He is the best--so spiritual but so chill at the same time. But the cita with them was so good! I was expecting it to be a spiritual fight, I guess haha. But it was super mellow! It was perfect. We got there and Javier Amigó just told everything to President that he was upset about and that the mission presidents had done wrong (he used to be in the mission presidency) and all this stuff. President just listened and asked questions and was really into it. Then after he said, "You know, I want to show you something; I really need your opinion about something." And he took out his computer and showed him the plans for the stakes that will be divided in the next few years and things like that. He told him that he can´t change the past, but he would love to have Javier´s help with the missionary work here, and he wants his opinions with everything. He kept saying not to let the past ruin the future he could have. It was so perfect. Then President almost missed his train,so Javier drove us back and on the way home it was so good. Javier thanked us for coming and said we have done more for his family than we even know. Ah, it was so good. Then President texted us later and said that at the station, Javier gave him a huge hug and was super super sweet to him--and he´s a really good man, but that's saying something for him. It was so sweet. We were so grateful! President was so happy and kept thanking us for inviting him, and he was so happy with us for wanting to help them. It was a dream come true for me, cause I have wanted to help this family for so long but not really known how. It was such a blessing!!!! I think we planted a seed that will take time to grow, but they will eventually come back. :)

Another huge miracle that happened this week was Elvida! The elders gave us a reference for a Romanian woman, so we went and visited her. Her two daughters and sister were there, and they are all amazing! They all accepted baptism dates! They are so so sweet. They have read the Book of Mormon so much and came to an activity and everything! They are a huge, huge miracle. Elvida is trying to stop smoking, so that will be a fight, but we know she can do it. They are the cutest family, and we are so grateful they were put in our laps!

So many miracles! It´s amazing. Juliana, the less-active who came to church last week, is doing so well! This week everyone just completely ate her up at church and was all over her--it was the sweetest thing ever. We are talking to her about repentance, and she is so happy to come back, even though it´s a hard road ahead. Her boyfriend is Spaniard and doesn't believe in anything. But he is really interested in learning English, so tonight we are going over and teaching him English, and little by little we will teach him and he will get baptized, and they will get sealed! I know it :)

Man, I love these people. I can´t believe it´s my last week with them. When I think about leaving them, especially Tatiana´s family, I just feel like a panic attack. These people are everything to me. I will be leaving a huge, huge part of my heart here. But at the same time, I also feel like I have done what I needed to do here and I have given it my all. This week will be super emotional and crazy, and I feel like my heart will be breaking in half, but it will be good :) I am ready for a change, I think, even though I don't ever want to leave these people. Anyway, we will see where I am next week!

I love this work! It is real. I know the Lord is there and He is real. I love that we believe in a loving Heavenly Father. Hardly anyone else believes that! Think what a blessing it is for us to believe that. I know He is there with us when we laugh, cry, suffer, and grow. He loves us more than we can ever imagine. Every good thing we have in this life is a manifestation of His love. I love it! I am so grateful to serve Him with everything I have for this tiny part of my life. I am trying to make the most of every single moment :) 

I love you all so much! I couldn't do it without y'all :) Thank you so much for your love and support. Seriously, it means the world :) Have a wonderful week and know that I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love, Hermana Boyer :)

P.S. I´m going to write on Tuesday night next week, so don´t worry when I don't write you on Monday! :)

One Year What?

Hello family!!!!!!!!! 

How are you all doing??? I hope you are all doing wonderfully! :) Thank you so much for the letters, Spencer and Martha! I loved them so much! You guys are the best!

Wow, I seriously cannot believe I left a year ago today!!!!! It´s the weirdest thing ever. I feel like I just barely got here and am a brand new missionary, but I also feel like I've been a missionary forever and home is just a dream haha. It´s so crazy! The weirdest part, though, is that I leave Zaragoza in 2 weeks!!! I will miss it so much. All the members are already talking about it haha cause I have been here for so long. It´s so funny--seriously, about 40% of the people we contact are like, "Oh yeah, I've already talked to you before, I remember 'cause of your hair." haha And whenever I get on the bus, I look to see if there´s anyone I know, and usually there is haha. It´s wild. I love it here so much. I can't stand the thought of leaving the people here.

This week has been crazy in Zaragoza! So Zaragoza is the home of the pilar--the giant cathedral dedicated to the Virgin Mary. This week they have had huge festivals to celebrate the virgin. Yesterday everyone--I mean like thousands of people--went to the pilar dressed in the traditional clothing of their ancestors, and they have this giant pyramid dedicated to the Virgin, and they put flowers on it. It is so cool!!!! They have all these markets and dancing, and everyone is dressed up like in the 1600s. It´s amazing! Also, everyone in the world is drunk haha. It´s funny. But it´s been so interesting to see! We were walking around today looking at it and just freaking out that we live in Europe! Ah, it still blows my mind :)

This week was full of miracles! One of the best was Juliana! Juliana is a less-active we found on the tram about 3 months ago. She is a young mom living with her boyfriend from Ecuador. She left the church when she got here as a teenager and when we found her, she didn't believe God existed or anything. She didn't want to come back and was kind of harsh against the church. But we've been working with her a lot and trying to work through her doubts, and yesterday she came to church! She said that she felt so much peace and that she wants to come back and be active and repent and everything! She had an interview with the branch president to get everything figured out, and she is going to start coming back for reals. It´s incredible that change that has come over her--she has a completely different countenance than when we first met her. It´s amazing! It was the biggest miracle, and the branch just ate her up when she came :)

Another miracle: so the Amigó family FINALLY came back from vacation, and I have thought for a long time that I would love it if President Pace could visit them. So last night I realized that President would be here for interviews the same day we were going to visit that family. We called President and he said he can come with us! Ah, I am SO exited. Seriously, this could make all the difference for this family, because he always says he has been abandoned by the mission and the stake and ah! I am just so excited. I get butterflies every time I think about it, cause I´m so excited and so nervous haha. I will tell you how it goes!

Also, so the past few weeks, the activities have been dead with school starting and all these things. And the missionaries all lost faith in them and stopped caring. But I have seen how many miracles come from them and the difference they made in the branch. So I kept pushing everyone to support them. Finally this week I got everyone together and was like, "Okay guys, I´m going out of Zaragoza big--we´re making every activity epic!" I was looking outside one day and saw a barbecue in the back of the church when I had this brilliant idea of a campfire :) So we got everyone super stoked, got it advertised and all this stuff--and the activity was the BEST!!!!!!! TONS of people came! Like half the branch at least!!! We had a campfire with smores, roasted Starburst (thanks, Lindsay!), had a guitar, and everything. They had never made smores, so it was so fun! It was seriously one of the funnest nights of my entire life!!!!!!!!! I was so happ,y I could barely stand it. Everyone in the branch was so happy, and it was just magical. Purely magical.

Well, things are good :) I love Zaragoza with all my heart. Thinking about leaving these people in two weeks just rips my heart out, because I love them more than I ever thought I could. Seriously, my bonds with the people here are so strong--they literally are like part of my family. :) But I am just so grateful for the chance to love. I have realized on the mission that nothing we do in the work of the Lord can be done without love. The Lord came here to love us, and we must love others. Not love them because we are supposed to, but because we know their lives and their stories and their families and we have spent time getting to know them and listening to their sorrows. We have laughed together, cried together, and grown together. That´s what the work of the Lord is about. Love. :) And I´m preaching to the choir here, cause I come from the most loving family in the whole world. Thank you for loving me so that I can love others. :)

I love you all so much I can barely stand it! Thank you so much for all you do for me! Have a wonderful week! :)

Love, Hermana Boyer :)

This is the campfire! It was so magical, I can´t even explain.

This is Hermana Bennett and me with a member named Olga dressed in her traditional clothes :)

This is me in front of the huge pyramid dedicated to the Virgin Mary with all the flowers people have put.

Email from Zaragoza

Shout out to Marianne--Happy birthday!!!!! I hope you have a wonderful birthday and do something super fun, cause you deserve it :)
Oh yeah--did you all get my package? The idea was that you would all open it together, but I guess it's hard with everyone so busy haha. But hopefully you all at least got the notes :)

How was Conference?? I loved watching the Saturday and Sunday morning sessions knowing that you were all watching it! I felt close to you all :) I loved seeing the shots of outside the temple; it was so pretty! Conference was SO good! I loved it. It was so perfect, cause they answered so many questions our investigators have and everything. I love conference even more on the mission, because it makes you remember that you are part of such a big cause! Sometimes when we are getting rejected over and over again in the street, I forget that my companion and I aren't the only ones that believe these things haha--but we have a worldwide organization run by the Lord Himself! I love that we have a prophet. I love telling people that we have the exact same church that Jesus Christ Himself established when He was on earth. What other church can say that? :) haha Sorry, that was my little rant--but I just love it :)

This week was really good! We are still juggling taking care of everyone and trying to build up stuff in our new area. But luckily, we found a lot of new investigators and were able to teach a lot of new people this week. One lady was really apprehensive when we came to her house for the cita, and we didn't know why she was so nervous. Finally she told us that she talked to her friends about us and that she said we are smart and good-looking people, but we are secretly American spies. That explains why she was so nervous haha! But after we laughed when she said that and taught her, she was a lot more relaxed :) We were just grateful she had let us in at all! 

But yeah, we are finding a lot more, and that´s really good :) Maria, the lady from Nicaragua who is not married but wants to get baptized, is doing really well! This week we were teaching her and asked if her roommate would like to come listen. It turns out her roommate, Maria, is actually super prepared! She was taught by the missionaries a few years ago and loved it but lost contact with the church. So we are going to set a baptism date with her tonight :) She is super good, and it was such a miracle!

We also had a huge miracle with a menos activo named Juliana. We found her in the street a few months ago and have been helping her work through some really intense doubts she has. When we walked in the door this week, she said, "Hermanas, I've been thinking, and I want to come back to church--is it okay if I go with you this Sunday?" Yay!!!!!!! It was the best thing ever. She actually didn't end up coming cause her daughter got really sick, but she´s coming this week, I promise :) It was the best thing ever.

This week we dropped off brownies at the Família Amigó´s house because they were home for one day in between vacations (yes, I knew which day because I officially stalk them haha). And they called us and were so grateful! I talked to Javier on the phone, and he thanked me for loving his family, and he wants us to come over when they get home next week. It was the best :)

This week we had a zone enfoque, where the zone leaders teach us, and it was SO good. The zone leaders read us the scripture from 3 Nephi that says something like, "I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been sent here to teach this people to bring to pass their everlasting salvation." It was so powerful. They had us take off our chapas and look at our name. I looked at us and was just hit with a ton of bricks by the Spirit to see my name next to the Savior´s. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This is His work. We are literally working beside Him. "How can a man know a master he hasn't served?" As I have worked alongside my Savior, I have come to know Him so much better, and I understand His love for me and all of us in such a real, intimate way. I love Him, and I cherish my chapa with my whole heart. I love walking the path He walked, and I am striving to do it with all my heart and all that I have.

Thank you so much for all your support--I really couldn't be here without you. I love you all more than you will ever know, seriously. :) Have a wonderful week and know that a little Hermana in Spain loves you very much! :)

Love, Hermana Boyer :)

This is us and Hermana Graham and Hermana Munns, our roommates :)

Cute Hermana Bennett cooks amazing food and made us all a fancy lunch! It was magical :)

This is Hermana Bennett and me before conference!