Email from Zaragoza

Hola familia!!!!!!!!!! 

Hello, my wonderful family! How are you all????? How have you all been????I am so sorry that I didn't write yesterday! We found out just a couple days ago that Hermana Bennett had a meeting in Barc yesterday, so they had to change our Preparation Day. I´m so sorry! Okay, I just have to say I have the most wonderful, supportive family in the whole world. Thank you so much for all the packages and letters! Thank you so much, Lindsay, for all the stuff you brought from home! I cannot believe all the stuff you brought and how heavy that was haha! I absolutely loved it, and everyone has been loving all the candy and everything :) Thank you SO much Carrie for the package! I loved it so much! I loved the pictures and everything, and it made my day :) And Mo, thank you so much for your letter! Your letters always make me so happy, I just adore them. :) You guys are amazing, I seriously have the most supportivefamily in the whole world. I´m sorry the package I sent home with Dan and Linz isn´t anything too special, but I hope you all get to try some of the candy and see the pictures and get your notes :) I wanted to do more but didn´t really have time, I´m so sorry! But I hope you like it :) And wow--congrats, Marianne, on passing the bar! That is the best thing ever!!!! Not that we are surprised . . . but congrats :) And Joe is coaching at Churchill--what? That is the best thing I've ever heard! haha That is so fun--I can´t wait to hear how that goes. Man, such fun stuff happening!

Things here are really good! It has been a crazy week, just because we are still trying to figure out stuff in our new area! I feel like I got transferred, but I'm still here haha, cause we switched areas. But it's been really good. We have been doing lots of pass-bys of the ward list and lots of contacting, and it´s been really good. Hermana Bennett is incredible. I seriously am just running along to try and keep up with her haha. She is seriously the hardest working, most obedient missionary I´ve ever met. She talks to EVERYONE!!! It´s amazing. Like seriously, if there is someone in sight, we go talk to them. It´s awesome. And she is so, so, so obedient. I am learning so much! She is very effective, and she is one of the most precise people I know, so she gets a lot done and everything she does, she does it really well--so it´s awesome. I am learning a ton from her.

We had the best miracle this week! So a few weeks ago, Hermana Noakes and I got on the bus after an activity, and we were super tired. But we had the feeling to go talk to this one lady. So we started talking to her and really connected with her. We weren't able to meet with her until last Monday, a week ago. We met with her and she said that she was taking the lessons while she was living in Nicaragua, but the missionaries stopped coming when they found out she wasn't married to her boyfriend--and they have 3 kids together. She said that she had always loved what they taught, and she feels like God keeps sending her missionaries. So she said she is sure that God wants her to join our church. She asked us when she could get baptized! It was amazing! I couldn't believe it. She is SO prepared it´s crazy! She loves everything we teach her and is always so excited for us to come, and she is the sweetest thing ever. She told us that she is going home in December to Nicaragua to get married to her boyfriend (she is here working for a while), and then she wants to get baptized. We told her last night that if she promises not to live with her boyfriend when she goes back before she marries him, she can be baptized whenever she wants. But she said that her husband wouldn´t understand that and it would be really hard for him. So we are all praying together to know what to do for the situation. But either way, she is incredible and is getting baptized soon. She is amazing! I just love her so much.

We are seeing lots of little miracles in finding as we work in our new area. It´s crazy, cause we just feel so strongly that the Lord wants us to be in our new area. We've been feeling kinda torn, because we have so many people to take care of in our old area that we can´t just leave, but we feel like the Lord wants us to be in our new area. But we have been praying and fasting so hard and the Lord has been helping us, even though it´s been kinda hard. But the Lord is pouring out miracles on us, and we are grateful for that :)

You wanted updates on people! Tatiana and her family are doing really well, except they were all in the hospital with food poisoning this week! So we visited them lots of times and stuff. But other than that, they are doing really well and going really strong! :) The family Amigó has been out of town for a long time, so we haven´t been able to see them, but we talk to them over the phone and they are really sweet with us! (Victory!) :) But we will see them the second they get home. 

Basically, things have been kind of weird, and we've been just relying completely on the Lord for every step, but it´s been good, because we are learning to be humble and do what the Lord wants us to do :) We are going to see lots of miracles in our new area, and I´m excited for it :)

I love this work! I am so grateful for our Savior. I love being able to testify of Him everyday. I love wearing His name on my chest and testifying in His name. This is His work, and He takes care of His children. I know that He knows the lives, thoughts, desires, and trials of every single one of us. He loves us more than we could ever know, and that love enables us to become the people we want to be, every hour of every day. I love it!

I love you all so much and am so, so, so, so grateful for your love and support! Have such a wonderful week with Conference! We are going to see Saturday morning session live, so I will feel close to you guys knowing we´ll be watching it at the same time! Yay! I love you so much!

Love, Hermana Boyer :)

This is Liliana and her daughter Sara--a less active woman who is overcoming tons of doubts and coming to church, and I just love her so much :)

Hermana Bennett is the one next to me :) A girl from Utah moved into our branch cause she is nannying for a family, and we went to lunch with her :)

This is the Pilar, the giant cathedral in Zaragoza. I love it! It's gorgeous.

SURPRISE!!!!

Oh my goodness. That´s all there is to say haha. I cannot even tell you how surreal yesterday was! I am still completely in shock haha! I´m standing in church, just talking to someone like normal, and I look outside at the church gates. Guess who I see--Dan and Lindsay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I seriously froze. I grabbed Hermana Bennett's arm to steady myself, cause I seriously thought I was crazy. It would be like if you were sitting doing homework and all of the sudden President Obama walked in. It wouldn´t be real!!!!!!! Haha!!!!!!!!!!!! I ran to Lindsay and just hugged her, and it was the craziest thing of my entire life! I was totally shaking and just in complete shock. There are no words to describe how surreal it was haha. My two worlds just crashing together haha! I seriously had NO idea they were coming. It was crazy!!!! I couldn't even play the piano in sacrament meeting cause I was shaking so badly, and I kept looking back at them to see if it was really real. I could not believe it! It was so fun though! It was SO good to just hug them and feel like home and you guys are actually a real thing! It was so fun to have them meet people and see stuff. I felt so bad I couldn't spend more time with them, but we had a super full day, and I couldn't change our plans or anything. But it was perfect how it was. It was so short that I never really processed it. Even right after they left I felt like it was just a weird dream and it for sure didn´t happen. SO CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!! haha!!!!!!!!! I'm happy, though--I sat next to Linz in RS and we got to catch up, and we got to talk the whole time (oops--they thought I was translating haha :) ), so that was really good. Pretty much just the biggest shock of my life. I can´t even describe it. So unreal.

Thank you SO much, all of you, for the stuff you sent! We ate Skittles and Starbursts in ward council and everyone was very happy, especially the missionaries :) But thank you so, so, so much for the pictures and everything! I love them so much! I think I´ve looked at them about 15 times now :) Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It really was so good. If you had asked me before they came if it would be hard for me, I would´ve said yes, but it was so surreal that I never processed it, so it was just good. It actually gave me a good recharge, because it made me remember that you guys are real and that I want to work as hard as I can until I see you guys again :) So it surprisingly wasn't hard--mostly just cause it was so unreal haha. But it was really good :) Wow, craziest day of my life. Last night I went to bed thinking, "This is the only day I can go to bed as a missionary saying I've hugged my family!" haha. So crazy. WOW.

Anyway, how are you all? I hope things are good there!!!!!!!!! I am so jealous of the beautiful fall there! Enjoy it for me :) Things are good here! In a lot of ways, this has been the weirdest week of my mission haha. And it was finished by seeing Dan and Lindsay haha. But it was crazy because we got two new elders and we decided to completely redo the boundaries here, cause they have always been really weird and don´t make sense. So we all met and were praying over the map for a long time. I have been here the longest, so they kept asking me for advice. It just kept making sense that we give the elders Delicias, our area. So we prayed about it and then everyone just looked at me. I finally said, "I don´t know why I feel peace about this, cause it stresses me out a ton, but I think you guys should have our area and we will work Actur and Picarral--two areas that are really hard and haven´t been worked in for a long time." It was a hard thing to do, not going to lie. We gave them all our investigators and most of our menos activos--pretty much everything we have! But for some reason I felt peace about it, even though I was stressed. But we did get to keep our pueblo Casetas where Tatiana and her family live and Raquel lives. I told them my heart is in Casetas, so they can´t take that haha :) So basically this week we have been starting over and it´s crazy! All of our citas fired the first two days--literally every single thing fired. So we ended up contacting for hours and we coudn't find anything--nobody would listen. It was a little crazy. Finally on Friday at lunch we were desperate and praying so so hard for something. Then we walked outside and the first family we contacted said yes!!!! We set up a cita with them and we are going to see them tonight :) It was the biggest miracle, because we couldn't find anything before. I know the Lord blesses our efforts, even if it´s in His own time! It was such a blessing :)

So yeah, it´s been crazy trying to pass off investigators, work our new area, find people to teach, and balance everything. But it´s good. Hermana Bennett and I have been so confused, cause in our minds, we are so worried and stressed and want to freak out, but in our hearts we just feel so much peace. It's like almost frustrating, cause I can´t feel frustrated, cause I feel peace haha! But the Lord is blessing us and I know this is the Lord´s will. There are people in our new area waiting for us, and they will get baptized :)

Hermana Bennett is incredible. Seriously. I literally can say she is the most obedient and hardworking missionary in the mission. She is perfect! I thought I knew what it meant to talk to everyone, but she literally talks to EVERYONE. Every person we pass or is in sight, we talk to them. It´s incredible. And she´s the same with rules--she´s like Mini, where even the smallest of rules will not be overlooked by her or by anyone :) It´s the best. She´s really helping me, and I'm just running along beside her trying to keep up haha. But I´m learning a ton from her and just in awe of her all the time. I know we will see miracles this transfer, because she is incredible!

Basically, things are really good! I have been blown away recently by the Lord´s mercy. We are reading the Book of Mormon together as a mission, and we are looking for the attributes of the Lord. I am just always blown away by how His attribute I find the most is mercy. He is so patient with us, even when we don't deserve it at all. I am so grateful for that, and I know He loves us more than we even know, and His love allows Him to have so much mercy for us. I am so grateful to be able to serve Him.

I love you all so much! Thank you so so so much for all your support and love. I can´t thank you enough for all you do for me. I hope you know how much I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love, Hermana Boyer :)

Changes!!!

Hello my wonderful family!!! How are you all?? How was your week??? Sorry this is so late! If anyone gets this and is still on, write me and we can chat :) If not it´s totally fine though :) How is everyone?? I can´t believe Linz and Dan are in Europe! I´m so excited for them to see Barc, I can barely stand it. I left a package in the office for them for all of you to share when they get home--it´s just like candy and stuff, nothing too exciting, I'm sorry! But hopefully you guys get it :) Happy Birthday to Sarah this week! That is so crazy; I can´t believe how big she is getting! Everyone needs to stop growing up! But tell her I love her very, very much :)

Things here are super good! This last week was a wild time!!!! Hermana Noakes left! It´s super crazy, I seriously can´t believe it. It was such a crazy week, cause we were running around doing stuff for her and saying bye to people and stuff. And it was her birthday, so it was just crazy! But it was super good. She had the most magical birthday ever! We had an eating cita at 1:30 and we ate tons and tons, then another eating cita at 4 haha :) And we ate a ton. Feeling fat and happy :) But it was so magical--we were eating at President and Hermana Resu´s (the branch President and his wife) and she went in the kitchen to get a cake. All of the sudden Resu comes in with a giant cake and Tatiana and her whole entire family came in singing to her! They put tons of gifts in her lap and threw all this confetti and Hermana Noakes was crying and it was magical :) It was so fun, I think she loved her birthday. Hermana Dorgia and I woke up in the night to decorate the whole piso for her and we made her French toast in the mornings and everything, so it was really fun :)

On Saturday we had a big picnic with the branch, and it was a surprise good-bye party for her. Tons of people came and just showered her with gifts and love, and it was the sweetest thing in the whole world. Everyone just loves her so much, cause she´s so fun and loud and crazy. It was so sweet to see how everyone just showed her so much love. She left behind a huge legacy, that´s for sure. Saying bye to her was hard, because we had been through a lot together as she was going through so many emotions leaving, and we had seen so many miracles together. It was really sad,but I know I´ll see her, and I'm so excited for her and the things she´ll do in her life. It´s crazy that missions really do end sometime. I wish they didn't!!!! Just kidding, I miss you guys like crazy and can hardly wait to see you. But I would love to be a missionary forever and ever.

So my new companion is . . . Hermana Bennett!!!! From San Diego! I am so lucky--she is incredible. I actually know her, cause we did a lot of intercambios in Barcelona together. So I know her well and she is amazing. I really think she is the hardest-working missionary in the mission. She is super, super sweet and happy and just mellow--so I'm way excited. And she´s a Sister Training Leader! My 3rd companion that´s a STL haha. I think President is trying to keep me in check :) I am so lucky to work with all these amazing people, I don´t know how I got so lucky! But I am really, really excited. And also they are bringing two elders back to our branch, so that will be awesome! Now we will have four elders again and us. And they are the Zone Leaders, so we don´t have to travel all the time for our meetings anymore. So there are lots of changes, and we are really excited. It will be super good.

This week we were super lucky--we got to listen to a conference for the women of Europe in Germany and it was broadcast to us. Elder Ballard and Elder Bednar spoke and the Area Presidency. Oh, my goodness. It was honestly one of the most amazing meetings I have ever heard. The main theme was about giving our hearts to the Lord and doing His will, not ours. It was incredible. I wish you all could have heard it! It was amazing :)

So pretty much this week was running around, packing bags, saying good-bye, lots of tears and laughs and little miracles to get her off smoothly and happily :) We did find some really good investigators too, though, and we had some really good lessons :) Things are so good! I love this branch with my whole heart. The other day I was telling President Gomez that Zaragoza is one of the biggest blessings in my life. I have learned more here in this area than I can even explain. It has changed me so much--it has made my testimony so much stronger, helped me understand how to serve and how to dedicate your whole life and everything you have to the gospel. It´s amazing. This area has its challenges and it has been hard, but I love it with my whole heart. These people have my heart. They are incredible, and everyone of them lives their testimony, no matter the cost. That is what the gospel is--living our testimony no matter what the circumstances are. Always giving everything because we know that Christ is our Savior, and that´s the only thing that matters. I want to be the kind of servant to the Lord that these people are. I am so grateful for my mission--I can´t even tell you. I love it with my whole heart. I love my Savior. I´m so grateful to wear His name every day.

Wow, sorry--I just got a little emotional there, I guess! Lots of emotions running this week haha. I'm sorry! But know that I love you all so, so, so, so, so much and am so, so grateful for your incredible examples, love, and support. I love you!!!!

Hermana Boyer :)

 These are all the missionaries in Zaragoza :)

This was Hermana Noakes´ birthday with this super cute family that I just love.

This was the surprise celebration with Tatiana´s family!!!!!!!!!

Email from Zaragoza

How is everyone???? I hope school is going super well for all you guys! It sounds like Edgewood was such a party! I´m so jealous!

I also wanted to give a huge shout out to Grandma Phyllis today. I have been thinking about her today and just hoping she´s having a wonderful birthday. I have felt so close to her on my mission and I know she is helping me out here :)

Things here are really good! I´m so sorry I didn´t write yesterday! We had zone conference and we didn´t know about it until a few days ago. I'm so sorry! Next week I will write on Tuesday too, cause of transfers! I can´t believe it´s transfers already. I know I am staying here, cause I need to train someone else on the area--so we´ll see who my companion is! This is Hermana Noakes´s last week in the mission and it´s crazy. It´s an emotional roller coaster haha. There are always tears--either happy or sad haha. But it´s good--I know I will be a wreck too. So this week is super crazy full of packing and visiting people and things.

This last week was amazing--we had so many miracles! On Tuesday morning I was praying so hard to the Lord telling Him that I would do everything in my power, literally talk to every single person in my way, if He would put prepared people in our path so we could find new investigators. And it happened! We talked to SO many people, and all of them were incredible! We were getting off the bus and a woman grabbed Hermana Noakes´s hand and told us that she was investigating the church for about 20 years, but never was able to get baptized. She stopped coming because she got offended, but she wants to return and get baptized and sealed to her husband! WHAT?! It was unreal. We ate with her on Sunday, and she is the sweetest thing that ever happened. Biggest miracle ever.

Also, we finally met with the Amigó family and had a real cita with them! It was intense--they told us their whole story and everything, and it was hard to hear. They are such wonderful members that have done so so much for the church. There were lots of tears, and I felt so much compassion for them. When they were talking, I was so overcome with love for them that I was in tears too. I told them that I love them so much and that I can feel the Savior´s love for them. We asked them if we could leave them with a hymn, and the Spirit was so strong. It was incredible. After, the spirit about them was different--they asked us to eat and they were so sweet. I love them so much, and I don´t even know why I´m so obsessed with them, but I just feel a love for them that I can´t describe. I am so grateful we were finally able to help them, and this is just the beginning :)

We are finding lots of new amazing investigators! We are teaching a woman named Manuela who is from Africa but lived in the States for a long time and speaks perfect English. She is really interested and really prepared. We tried to commit her to a baptism date, but she was really scared and wanted to wait until she could read part of the BOM. But she said she wants to get baptized, and she really wants to know if this church is true, and if she gets her answer, she will be baptized. She is super spunky and we love her.

We are also teaching this other man named Javier who is exactly like Mr. Harper! For anyone that understands that reference, they will die. Imagine sitting on a bench teaching Mr. Harper about faith and the Plan of Salvation. It would be quite something. He is a total liberal history professor that doesn't believe in anything, but for some reason is fascinated by Mormons. At the end of the cita, I felt like I should bear my testimony about how faith helps us through trials. The Spirit was actually so so strong, and I know he felt something. It was amazing. I hope he gets baptized :)

Pretty much, really good things are happening here. Tatiana and her family are still doing really well. Diego is going through some struggles and has a lot of doubts, but we are donig everything we can for them and I know he will pull through. I love that family so much!!!!!!

Fam, the mission is the best thing I´ve ever done. This week I read in Romans when Paul says, " I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." Something I have really been working on is being more bold. I have been trying to talk to literally everyone and invite everyone possible to be baptized. I am not ashamed of this gospel. I am so so grateful for the chance to wear the Savior´s name on my chest every day. I love Him and I know this is His church. What a privilege it is to serve Him and testify of Him everyday. I love it with all my heart.

I love you all so so much, and thank you SO much for your support and love! I couldn´t do this without you. I love you all more than you know :)

Love, Hermana Boyer :)

Happy Labor Day!!!

Hello my lovely family! 

How are you all??? How has your week been? Wow, I can´t believe summer is over!! That is the craziest thing--I still feel like I'm in March or something. Time flies so fast! How was the first week of school?? I hope everyone is loving life :) Happy Birthday Andrew yesterday! I can´t believe it! I hope he had a wonderful day, and tell him that his Aunt Jennie loves him very, very much :) I hope you have such a fun Labor Day today! I am way jealous you all get to be at the cabin! I hope it´s a really, really good day.

Well, Zaragoza is really good :) And really HOT. We got this heat streak this week and it´s crazy. I have never been this hot in my life haha! But that´s all right, at least we are getting tan :) But this week we had a lot of miracles!!! The biggest is that--I FINALLY met Javier Amigó!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Remember the family that I am totally obsessed with, and he was the stake president and is now inactive? I have been praying and fasting for them ever since I got here, and I had never met Javier, the dad. And finally this week we did! We passed by them and Javier answered the door and didn´t even look surprised. He was really friendly and invited us in, and we met a lot of the family! The family felt really uncomfortable, but Javier I think was happy we were there. We talked to him for quite a while, and he told us all his grievances against the church here. It was sad but good to know what his problems are. I was kind of fuerte with him, actually--I told him that he should know how many people love him and pray for him and he can´t say nobody loves him. I don´t know what came over me, but I just told him how it is, that we love him more than he can imagine, and that we need him at church. Our visit got cut short cause they had to leave, but he invited us back for this week-- really good sign! :) I was so, so, so happy to finally meet this man I have thought about and prayed about SO much! I felt like I met a celebrity haha. It was the best thing ever. I just have this overwhelming love and need to help this family, it´s crazy. we are going to at least help them feel the Spirit again, if nothing else. Actually, when we were praying with them, I was saying it and I prayed that they would feel the Lord´s love in their life again. As we were praying, the Spirit was so strong in the room and it was amazing. I hope they felt it. We are going to help them, and I will do whatever it takes, cause we need this family back.

Another miracle was that Tatiana and her kids went to the temple!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were so, so, so excited for them! I wish so, so much we could have gone. But they were all so excited! Ana especially has just always felt a really strong connection with the temple--she just said she knows she needs to go and she knows Heavenly Father wants her there, but she doesn't know why. She said that even before she wanted to get baptized. So for her, it was especially special. She said she loved it so much, and she has never felt the Spirit so strong. They all came back with even more of light :) Ah, it was the best! Now we just need to get them sealed :) Ah, I´m so happy for them I can barely stand it.

Another miracle is that we had a FHE with Rachel and her husband! It went pretty well. He is a really quiet man, so he wasn't really into the games or anything. But after we had the chance to chat with him, and he was really interested in everything and really friendly. This is the biggest miracle, cause at first he forbid Rachel from meeting with us. The Lord is definitely softening his heart. Also, we made Ari a cake for her birthday, and she sent us a text later telling us that we are the best thing that has ever happened to her and she loves us so much. That was huge because at first she never wanted to meet with us, and she´s really shy. So that was amazing! She is progressing so much.

So basically, things are really good! We are having lots of first lessons with people, so we just have to get them progressing. The activities are going really well, and we are seeing lots of miracles. Hermana Noakes is amazing--fighting hard not to get trunky haha. But she is amazing and I´m so grateful to work with her.

I am so grateful for my mission! This week I finished the Book of Mormon, and I was just overwhelmed with gratitude for this book and how it has blessed my life. I always knew before the mission that it was a powerful book and it had changed my life, but I never realized until now how much it changes everyone´s lives. It´s impossible to read it with real desire and not feel that it´s true. I am starting to read it in Spanish now and I absolutely love it! It´s like reading it for the first time, and it´s so interesting reading it with the different connotations of the words and everything. I love it so much! This book changes lives, I know it. We are doing a challenge as a mission and all the members that live in this mission to read it before the end of the year. I am so grateful for that, because this book softens hearts and brings the Spirit stronger than anything else. I love it so much and am so grateful to testify about it everyday. I love my mission!

Thank you so much for all your support and love! I am so grateful for all you do for me! I love you all so so so much! Have a great week!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love, Hermana Boyer :)