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!