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!