Las Familias Pueden Ser Eternas

Hola familia!!!

How are you all? Wow, it sounds like Bear Lake was the biggest party ever!!! I love so so much all the pictures and stories and everything--thank you for sending them! I love so much the one of all of you! I cried when I saw it, cause I just love you all so much and miss you like crazy! It sounds like it was such a fun week--I love that Mom and Dad did the water weeny haha! That is the best thing I´ve ever heard. I wish I could´ve seen that! What a party, I´m so glad it was so fun. I thought about you guys a lot this week, wondering what you were doing and how it was. I can´t wait to party with y'all next summer :) But keep the pictures and stories coming, cause I love hearing about them so much!!!!!!!

Wow. This week was the biggest miracle I´ve ever had in my mission, maybe even my life! Mateo and Ana were baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can´t even tell you how amazing it was. It´s so perfect that it doesn´t seem real-- like how Christmas Day or the first week of summer isn´t real cause it´s so wonderful haha. I can´t even tell you how perfect it was. All week we visited them a ton and they were so so excited! Both of them were reading a ton and preparing for the baptism! They were so excited. We were so excited all week, we could barely stand it. We tried to make it the perfect baptism--we made tons of food and decorations and all this stuff haha--we were so happy!!!!!!!!!! Everything went perfectly except a few technical diffictulties, but it´s okay! SO many people came to support them--there are tons of youth in the branch that love this family and have just taken them under their wing--it´s amazing. A little miracle was when us 4 missionaries in the branch sang, and I was so nervous, cause I have a cold and my voice is completely gone. I was praying so hard I would be able to sing--and I could! My voice came out and I was so lucky haha. Such a tender mercy :) 

So when Ana was baptized, we were behind the font with her, and she was so excited. She was grinning the whole time during the prayer (yes, I was prayer peeking!) :) and grinned at us the whole way under the water :) When she got back up the stairs to us, we were all 3 crying and so so happy. She had this incredible light about her. Then we stayed and watched Mateo, and he grinned at us the whole time too. Ah, it was honestly one of the happiest moments I´ve ever experienced. Then after, Tatiana was giving her testimony, and she said something that melted both of us into tears: "This whole year I´ve been preparing for the temple, but I just haven´t felt like the Lord wanted me to go yet--now I realize that He just didn´t want me to go alone." Then we sang the song "Las Familias Pueden Ser Eternas" or "Families Can Be Together Forever." Hermana Noakes and I were just melted to tears because this family is eternal now. Just imagine that less than a year ago this family was falling apart with drinking and all sorts of problems--now they are headed to the temple together. It´s a joy that I can´t express because it´s too sweet. There can´t be anything sweeter than seeing the change that has come over them--especially Ana and Mateo. When I first got here, they wouldn´t even look me in the eye when I talked to them, let alone comment in lessons, come to church, or read the Book of Mormon. Now they are the ones getting their parents up to come tocChurch, they read together every day looking for answers, they are the life of every activity getting all the youth together, they call us just to see how we are, they are so outgoing and loving to everyone--and best of all, they have such strong, deep, sweet testimonies of the gospel. It´s amazing to see too how Diego when I first met him didn´t have a testimony and didn´t want to change. Now he is coming to church every week--he loves the gospel, and he is changing. He has such a sweet and sincere testimony that´s developing every day. I can´t explain the change in them--it makes me cry just thinking about it! The other day I was reading the notes from my setting apart and it says that I came on a mission in fulfillment of promises made before this life. I know with all my heart that I knew and loved this family before this life. I know that they are a huge, huge part of why I came on a mission. I love them with a love so deep and so real that I know it´s from the Lord. I would do anything for this family, and words can´t express the joy that I feel from seeing them progress. Wow, I´m a mess here as I´m writing just crying my eyes out haha! Sorry this is so mushy, but I just want you to know how deeply I love this family and how deeply I love this gospel that changes lives. It´s incredible. The Lord is so good. He is so merciful, and He has poured out countless blessings on this family. How blessed we are to be a part of it.

Here is one more really sweet thing that happened this week. So remember the Amigó family that I am obsessed with? Well, I talked to the mother on the phone and her father just died, so we can´t go visit her. But I was able to tell her over the phone how much we love her and are praying for her. They are back on vacation, but she said when they get home we can for sure visit them. (I still haven´t met them yet!!!!!!) But their son Oscar is becoming more active. A few weeks ago he came to church and the elders presented him to me, and I pretty much attacked him telling him how much I love him and his family and I want to help them so badly and all this stuff. I was so happy to finally meet someone from their family! Well, he came to church yesterday, and he said, "I´ve been thinking about the first time I met you, and I wanted you to know that I am so grateful for the love you have for my family. My family and I haven´t had love like that in years, and I can´t tell you how grateful I am that somebody cares about my family. I´ve been thinking about you so much and there are no words to describe how your love has touched me." Then right after that he said, "I know this is against the rules, but I just have to do this cause I can´t express how grateful I am any other way"--and he picked me up in a huge bear hug for 2 seconds, and before I even knew what had happened he set me back down again haha! Normally I would be super freaked out, but it was just so sweet how grateful he was, and I knew that he wanted me to know that it means a lot that I care about their family. It was really sweet.

Well, things are really good here. I just want to say that this gospel is true. There is no sweeter joy that comes from the change the gospel brings on our hearts. I have seen it firsthand how the gospel softens our hearts, refines our actions, and puts the Lord´s love in our countenances. There is no sweeter joy that comes from watching a family that was once breaking to being so happy and heading for the temple. I love this gospel with everything I have. I know that my Savior lives, and I love Him with all of my heart.

I love you all so, so, so much and thank you for all your support, love, prayers and letters! Have such a wonderful week and know that I love you so so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love, Hermana Boyer :)

 I love these pictures!

 The one of me and all the girls are my crew! These are all the Young Women and man, I love them so so so so much!

The one of us with the man is Oscar Amigó- the one who hugged me haha :)

Email from Zaragoza (from August 11)

Hello my wonderful family!

How are you all!!!!!!!! How is Bear Lake???? Ah, I´m so jealous--it sounds like such a party! The house is SO pretty too! Ah, I can´t wait to hear about all the adventures and everything--that sounds so fun! Dad sent me pictures, and I was dying at how pretty it was and everything! I can´t wait to hear all about it. It sounds like Sarah is quite the life of the party! I love hearing about her haha! That´s so funny. And I am so sad about little Beth´s arm! That broke my heart when I read that! I hope it gets better soon! I hope you guys have so much fun and tell me everything that happens!!!!!!!!!!!

This week was really good!!!!! I decided August is a funny month because it´s SUPER hot. Like seriously, I don´t remember what it feels like to not be drenched in sweat. And everyone, I mean everyone haha, is on vacation! Cause in Zaragoza there´s no beach, so everyone goes to the beach, but they go for the whole month. So it´s interesting! But we are loving it and it´s been a super good week.

The best news is that Ana and Mateo are for sure getting baptized on Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay, I don´t think there are words to express the joy we feel. I don´t think I´ve ever felt joy like this! It´s incredible the miracles that have taken place this week to get them ready for their baptism. So this whole week, Ana and Mateo have been saying that they want to get baptized, but they are just scared. So we text them and call them every day we don´t see them and have been working through them on their doubts. The best thing, though, is that they totally understand that they need to work to be prepared for their baptism, so Ana and Mateo have been reading together every day, praying that the Lord would answer their doubts. And He has!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They have had so many spiritual confirmations that they should get baptized and it´s amazing!!!!! It´s incredible to see the change that has come over their countenances--they look like different people cause they have this light about them. It´s amazing!!!!!! I cry every time I think about it. 

So finally yesterday we talked to them, and they said that they are for sure ready, and it makes them nervous, but they know it´s right and they want to do it. They are both so excited about it. It´s amazing!!!!!! Also, yesterday we were in ward council and Tatiana--their mom--broke down crying about how she´s so nervous her family will fall away again and that she has all these fears for her family. But then every member there testified how her kids are ready, that the Lord has prepared them for this, that her family won´t fall away again, and all these things. Everyone was crying and the Spirit was so strong. It was incredible!!! And now Diego is all for it--he wants his kids to get baptized, he has a testimony, and he loves the gospel. It´s incredible!!!!!! Last night we talked to Tatiana on the phone and she told us about how a year ago, her kids were completely Catholic, Diego came home drunk every night, and she was going to divorce him--now they are headed for the temple. Ah, I´m crying as I write this just thinking about it. The Lord is so good. I really feel like this family is the reason why I´m on a mission. I love them so much that there´s not even room in my heart to describe it. Ah, sorry I´m getting all mushy! But they need all the prayers we can get--so if you can all pray for Ana and Mateo together, especially while you are all together right now, I know they will feel those prayers. I´m so excited I can barely stand it!

We have had lots of amazing miracles with menos activos this week too. A few weeks ago we met with a woman who is in the military, and she said that ever since she started working in that, she has felt that God can´t exist because she´s seen so many awful things. We had an incredible lesson completely driven by the Spirit, and by the end she was crying, saying how she wants to believe in Him again, even though it hurts her. We have been meeting with her, and now she is reading the BOM every day--and she came to Church for the first time in 15 years yesterday :) The Atonement is real. It changes lives and heals hearts--I´ve seen it.

Other awesome miracles: 

- We went to eat lunch with Rachel and her family, and her whole entire family was there for a birthday party, and we got 11 new investigators from it!!!!!!!! It was amazing.
- We had 5 people come to church yesterday! For us, that´s really big.
- We have found 2 really good people to teach--one is from the street and one is the daughter of a menos activo. Both of them are reading the BOM and are going to progress really fast.

Pretty much, I love this work with all my heart. I just love the change that comes in peoples´ countenances when they accept Christ in their lives. It´s visible, it´s real. I know that the gospel changes hearts, lives and families. I am so incredibly grateful to have a front-row seat to the change that the gospel brings. I´ve seen it over and over again in other people, and I know I´m seeing it in myself as the Lord changes my heart and refines me to be better. I love it so much!

Thank you SO much for all your support and love! I hope you have such a fun week, and I will be thinking about you! I hope it´s a wonderful week together :) I love you all so so so much :)

Love, Hermana Boyer

Zumba and Soccer Make Baptism :)

Hello family! 

How are you all???? I am so sorry that I forgot to tell you that I wasn´t going to email you until today! I have felt bad about it all week haha. It´s transfers today, that´s why!!!! But how are you all?? Are you all having such a party on Butternut? I´m so jealous--it sounds so fun with all the adventures and kids and everything! Ah, I hope you are all having so much and partying it up. Take lots of pictures and write down the one-liners for me! And I am so excited to hear about Bear Lake! I hope you have so much fun! I hope it´s awesome. Huge shout-out to Sammie--I hope you had the best birthday ever! I was thinking about you, hoping that it was a wonderful day :)

This week was crazy!!!!!!!! I decided there´s just never a dull moment ever. Good news--Hermana Noakes and I are staying together another transfer! I´m so excited. She finishes her mission next transfer, so I´m her last companion (as they say in the mission, I´m going to kill her off haha). It´s super crazy. But we are having so much fun together and we are a good team, so we´re super excited. I love her so much--she is so funny and such a good missionary. 

Transfers were super sad, though, cause two of the elders in our branch went home and they decided not to send us anymore, so it´s just us four here! Saying goodbye to them was so, so sad--it was one of the hardest goodbyes ever, cause we were all so close and do everything together. So now it´s just the four of us and it´s weird, but it´s good. 

We had SO many miracles this week! I can´t even tell you. Okay, so I had an interview with President last week and he told me that if I invite every single person to be baptized in every lesson, I will have more baptisms--makes sense right? And now as a mission, we have a goal to invite at least one person every day to be baptized. That´s something that has always made me nervous, but this week we just went for it. We are inviting everyone! It´s amazing!!!!!! So we were in a lesson with Rachel, who is becoming active again, and her kids, Ari, who´s 18, and Ricardo, who´s 12. We´ve been teaching them a lot, but they never really pay that much attention. We were teaching them and I got the feeling to invite them to be baptized--and I told President I would repent, so I needed to do it. I thought to myself, "Okay, President, this is for you," and we invited them. And . . . Ari said yes!!!!! She said if she gets her answer that she will do it for sure. I was so surprised I almost fell off my chair! It was unreal. President´s advice is real. Now we are inviting everyone to be baptized and seeing so many miracles from it! It´s addicting--now I feel like inviting everyone to be baptized and talking about baptism all the time. It´s the best thing ever! I love it.

Another HUGE miracle this week: Tatiana´s family! Okay, I can´t even tell you the changes that have come over this family. So the father, Diego, used to listen to us but never had a testimony and always cared about soccer more than anything. But now, he comes to every single activity, church every Sunday, he bears his testimony in every lesson to his kids, he wants a calling--it´s incredible!!!!!!!!!!! And Alexander blesses the sacrament every week and brings his friends to listen to us! And Ana and Mateo, who were so shy you couldn´t even look them in the eye, are now the most popular kids in the branch! They have so many friends and are the life of every party!!!!! Every time I think about how far this family has come, it brings tears to my eyes. Words can´t describe how much I love this family. But Ana has never wanted to read the scriptures, no matter how much we invite her to do it. But this week at an acitivty, she came up to me so excited and with this light in her face. She said that she and her mom decided to read the scriptures together. Before they read, they prayed that her doubts about baptism would be answered. She said as they read that all of her doubts were answered and that she felt like she was talking directly to Heavenly Father. It was amazing!!!!! I was crying as she told me, and we cried together and were just hugging. She wants to get baptized and go to the temple with her family!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Right now we changed their date to the 16th because they want more time to plan it. She is still nervous about it, but we are hoping and praying with everything we have that by the 16th she will feel ready and be up for it. They are so ready, they just have to have the courage to do it. But it's amazing. I can´t even describe how much joy I feel with this family. I love them with a love that´s not even mine. They are incredible!

Ah, so many good things are happening! We are starting TONS of activities, and it´s incredible to see the change it has brought in the branch! It´s like everyone´s been waiting for acitivites to happen, but it just hasn´t yet. But everyone comes, and there are TONS of youth in this branch that serioulsy are the magic of this branch. So we have a big FHE every Friday night that so many people are coming to, we have sports every Saturday morning, we are in charge of Young Women activites every week, and we are doing Zumba every Friday! It´s so fun! We are having so much fun and seeing so many miracles from it--I really think this is a huge reason why everyone is progressing so much, because they are in the Church all the time and feeling the Spirit. It´s just incredible! Tatiana and her family come to every activity and are the life of the party at everything! The only bummer about Zumba this week was that Hermana Noakes was leading a dance and tore her ankle! She has really bad ankles, so it´s happened before, but she couldn´t finish, and one of the elders and I had to make up the rest haha. But she is doing better; we are taking it easy for her.

Another funny thing about this week--so all of the sudden everyone in the world wants to feed us! It´s crazy! We love it, though, cause we are getting so much closer to the members. So this week we ate with President and Resu at 4:30--they fed us this really thick soup and bread, and we thought we were good to go. Then she says she´ll go get the main dish. We looked at each other like, "Oh, shoot!" and she brought out this HUGE plate of fish! TONS OF FISH. It actually didn´t taste that bad, but it was SO filling. And after a huge pudding to eat. I was so full I wanted to die. Then at 8, we ate with a menos activo and she gave us Pica Macho--a Bolivian mountain hot dog, beef, fries, and fried vegetables. Hermana noakes just straight up told her she couldn´t finish after a few bites. I felt bad, though, and didn´t want her to be sad, so I ate ALL of it. Oh my gosh, I seriously don´t ever remember being that sick haha. On the way home from her pueblo, we were in the back of a bus and we were bouncing around everywhere. I was holding a barf bag and barely made it to the bathroom in time when we got home haha. Needless to say, I was up all night in the bathroom. It was really funny haha but my stomach is still messed up, and I don´t think I¨lll ever be able to eat that stuff again.

Okay, sorry--this is the longest email ever, but I just have so much to tell you! Pretty much I just want you to know that the Lord loves us SO much. This is His work. He knows His children, and if we put our faith in Him and do everything we can, He will help us bless others. He gives us miracles every minute of every day. This is His work and He´s in charge. All we have to do is be worthy to follow the Spirit and be the instruments in His hands. I am so happy to be a missionary; I love it with all my heart. I always look down at my chapa (nametag) and just smile, cause I love wearing my Savior´s name on my chest every day and doing what He would do if He were here. This church is true. I know that with all my heart, and how lucky we are to have that knowledge. 

I love you all so much and hope you have so much fun together! Know that I love you with all my heart! 

Love, Hermana Boyer :)

This is my little friend Laura--I love the young women here so so much!!!!!!!!!!

This is Hermana Noakes and I at an activity where they had to feed each other yogurt blindfolded--it was super funny!

It was Hermana Porter´s one-year mark in the mission, so we burned a shirt haha.

Popsicles and Cotton-Eyed Joe

Hello mi famila!!!!!! 

How are you all??? Wow, Butternut sounds like quite the party this week! I´m so jealous that you are all together! Ah, that sounds like a wild time haha--I'm so jealous! I hope you all have so much fun! Is Bear Lake next week? I´m so excited to hear about it; that´s going to be so fun! Don´t have too much fun without me :)

But I hope you are all happy! Thank you so much for all the support this week! Thank you so much for your package, Carrie! I loved it so so so much!!!!!! I about died when I saw Skittles, I miss them so much :) Thank you! And Martha and Lowli for the letters, thank you so so much! You are the best; I am so spoiled!!!!!

Well, this week was super crazy, but so good!!!!!!! Guess what? You know Alexander´s little siblings that are really shy and have never wanted to get baptized???? Well, they have baptism dates!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I´m just a little bit excited about it. So this week we decided to have a picnic in the park with just the 3 kids--Alexander, Ana, and Mateo--to have a DTR with them haha. We bought popsicles and just chatted with them. They seriously are like our best friends--I feel like they are my younger siblings haha. We asked them what their doubts are and if they really believe what we teach them is true. They said they believe it all and know it´s true. We asked them about their doubts and they said they really don´t have any. So we talked them through a couple things, then asked them if they wanted to be baptized and go to the Temple with their family. They said YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!! I´m so happy I can barely stand it. The date is the 9th of August, and we are praying so hard for them that they keep up the spirit they have right now. They are seriously the best family; I love them so much! And we are going to get them sealed!!! I´m so happy, it just makes my heart sing :) Also, I can´t remember if I told you, but they´ve been coming to church every week as a family, and Tatiana just got called as RS President!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This family is incredible, and there is such a change in all their countenances--everyone in the branch has noticed it. I love them so much and am so excited for them!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I realized I should give you updates on people, cause I always tell you about all these people and never tell you what happens with them haha. Well, Marina, our little missionary who always brings people for us to teach, is on vacation with the lady she takes care of. So she´s gone, but we text her every night with scriptures to read, and we are just praying so hard that she still wants to get baptized when she gets home.

The Amigó family are on vacation, but they told us we can come visit them when they get home :) I still think about them all the time. Their son, who the elders are teaching, came to church, and I kind of attacked him because I was so excited to meet someone from their family! It was funny haha.

Karla, the amazing girl we were teaching, moved back to her home in the north of Spain, so we can´t teach her anymore. :( But we are going to pass her to the missionaries there, and we are planning on seeing her name in the baptisms soon cause she is so golden. :)

Pretty much summer is just crazy, cause EVERYBODY goes to the beach here--it´s like how every Utahn goes to Cali to go the beach during the summer. So finding steady investigators right now is crazy, cause everyone we find is only here for a while and all our other investigators are gone! But that's all right :)

We are visiting tons of members every week, and it´s so fun. I absolutely LOVE these people. I love these families here so much, and I am so grateful for all they do for us and the chance to teach them.

This week the biggest event was the talent show!!!!!!!! So a family in the ward--the ward, not our branch--decided to have the missionaries put on a talent show so that the members and investigators could see that we are normal people, so they will trust us more. We didn´t really know what we were getting ourselves into, they just told us what to do. But this week we did it, and it was so fun! So there are 12 missionaires here--6 in the branch and 6 in the ward, and we did it all together. It was WILD haha. It was so fun. We had the craziest mix of stuff ever. I sang an Ingrid Michaelson song on the guitar, lots of people sang, someone did the Haka--everything. They wanted to have an American culture song, so we did Cotton-eyed Joe haha and all did the line dance to it. I did a stall and everyone went crazy haha. It´s been a long time since I´ve done break dancing! I also played the guitar and sang with other people, and I sang "I Know that My Redeemer Lives" with an elder who is studying voice at BYU and has a PHENOMENAL voice. I felt like I was singing with like Josh Groban or something haha. Basically, it was super fun and crazy. We felt dumb that it was only us performing, but it ended up being good, cause TONS of people came and they all loved it. They filmed the whole thing and are going to give us a copy and said they would send one to our parents, so hopefully they send it to you guys soon if you want to watch it :)

So pretty much, life is really good here! We are getting tons of activites going and seeing lots of progress with this branch. It´s amazing how activities bring everyone together. I just love being a missionary! I just want to give a little chapa speech cause I love my chapa (nametag)! :) I love wearing Christ´s name on my chest every day, because every day I tell myself that I need to live up to my chapa--do everything so that people can recognize me as a servant of Christ. I love having that standard, and it pushes me to be better every day. I love being a missionary with all my heart. I love it. I'm so grateful for the chance to be filled with so much love that I know is from the Lord and the chance to teach others every day the things that bring us the most happiness. I just love this gospel so much! I know that it´s true, without any doubt.

I love you all so much and hope you have so much fun together this week! I love you so so so so so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love, Hermana Boyer :)

Email from Zaragoza

Hola familia!!!!!!! 

¿Que tal? Hello my wonderful family! How are you all? How is the summer treating you all?? I hope you are all partying it up and having so much fun! I hope you are having lots of exciting adventures.  :) I´m so jealous you are all going to party this next month together! Ah, I´m super jealous; that´s going to be so fun! Take lots and lots of pictures and take note of the funny comments that happen when we´re all grazing in the kitchen together, cause those are my favorite in the world :) But really, though--tell me all the details, cause I am so jealous!

Huge shout out to Annie this week! I hope you have such a good birthday! I hope you get to do something super fun! I love you!

This week was HOT! Oh my goodness, I don´t ever remember being this hot haha. This city is like St. George--dry, but super hot and deserty. It´s been over 100 everyday! Seriously, I walk out the door and before we´ve left our complex I´m sweating. It´s quite the adventure!

But this week was really good--full of miracles! The best miracle was that Marina, our investigator who always invites people to listen that we´ve been working with for a few months, finally accepted a baptism date!!!!! It was the best! We´ve talked to her about baptism a lot, but she keeps saying she needs to pray about it and she doesn´t think she can be baptized again even in a different church. But this time when we invited her she said, "Claro!" (like "Obviously!"). It was the best! So she is going to be baptized the 9th of August! The only problem is that she works interna (in Spain almost all of the South American women care for an older Spaniard woman and they live with them as a nurse)--and her interna is leaving for the beach for 2 weeks. So we are super sad cause she´s leaving for 2 weeks, but we are planning on calling her every day and reading with her in the BOM over the phone. She is so ready and she loves the BOM so much, so I know she´ll get baptized. :) We are super excited!

We just had so many miracles: We did intercambios with our roommates this week cause Hermana Porter is a Sister Training Leader, and the day Hermana Porter came with me, every single cita fired! But we passed by TONS of people and every single person was home, and we ended up having 10 lessons that day! It was the biggest miracle ever; I was so grateful. I don´t know why, but the Lord just blesses us so much even when we don´t necessarily deserve it.

Okay, so let me tell you about my new obsession haha. Okay, so there´s this huge family named the family Amigó. He was the stake president and is now inactive. All of his kids want to come back but are afraid cause he doesn´t want them to. When he went inactive, about 6 other men went inactive with him--all leaders in the Church. For some reason, I have become obsessed with this family haha. I think about them all the time, pray for them in every prayer, and just have this intense love for them, even though I´ve never met them! So we´ve been passing by and calling, but nothing ever happens. Finally this week I talked to the daughter, and she said they don´t want anything to do with the Church and to not call anymore. I cried after that phone call, cause I just care about this family so much, I don´t even know why! BUT, while I was praying about them that night I had this feeling to drop off brownies to them the next day. The next day we didn´t have time, but 3 of our citas fired, so we went and dropped off brownies. The next day I was with Hermana Dorgia in her area, and she gets a phone call from a family, thanking them for brownies. After she gets off the phone, she says "Wait, did you drop off brownies to a family yesterday?" I FREAKED OUT!!!!!!!!! The mother of the family called them cause it was the only number they had and said they were so touched by the brownies and that we can come VISIT THEM!!!!!!!!! I seriously was walking on air the entire week. What are the chances that our citas fired so we could go take brownies, that the only day I was with the other hermanas in their area, she called them? Man, the Lord is so good to us. Miracles, I tell you. So we still haven´t visited them yet because they are leaving on vacation for 2 weeks, but she promised when they get back, we can come. On the phone I must have been such a spaz cause I was like, "Oh my goodness, I love your family so much and I think about you all the time, and I just can´t believe you called us, and basically I just really love you a lot!" Probably she thinks I´m super weird haha. Anyway, we are going to reactivate this family and with it, we are going to bring back the other leaders that fell with them. I know it´s possible and we are going to do it, no matter what it takes. :)

Well, we don´t have too many crazy stories this week like last time. This is a story from last week I forgot to tell you, though--so we were waiting for the bus, and we heard a man speaking broken Spanish trying to ask how to get to the train station. I asked him if he needed help, and he´s from Texas! He´s just backpacking around Europe and had no clue what he was doing haha. So we got on the bus with him and showed him to the station. On the way we were talking and became friends with him. Right before he was about to get off the bus, he was like, "Hey, I´m going to Pamplona to run with the bulls, you should come!" (Oh, and Hermana Noakes was contacting someone else so it was just me.) I explained how I can´t and everything. He was like "Really, I´ll buy your ticket and no one will even know you´re gone!" He was trying so hard to convince me to come and finally when the door opened, I just shoved him out the door and was like, "You´re going to miss your train!" haha It was funny. We just have crazy stuff happen as missionaries, I decided.

To answer some questions: we have 6 missionaries serving in the branch, and 6 in the ward, so our district is all serving in the branch, so we have a good team.  :)

You have asked if I ever sing--well, I sing in every cita when we sing hymns, and a lot of times we do musical numbers as missionaries, but I haven´t sung any solos on my mission. We are having a talent show this week, and I´m going to sing and play the guitar, but that´s it! I always pray for opportunities to sing, but I´m too shy to ask if I can sing a solo or anything haha. I think I´m learning that the most important way to use my voice is to bring the Spirit. :)

Well, this work is real! This morning I was reading in John 15, and I absolutely loved it. I realized that the Savior could love perfectly because he was perfectly obedient. When we keep the commandments, we put ourselves in a place to feel Christ´s perfect love and also be consumed with it for others. That is my goal, to always live the commandments so I can always be filled with Christlike love for other people, and that is where we find our joy.

I love this work, I love my Savior, and I know this is His church without any doubt in my heart. In Spanish they always say "No doubt fits in me," and I really like that because it´s true!

I love you all so much and thank you so so much for all your support and love! You are all my heroes! Love you so so so much!

Hermana Boyer :)

This is us eating lunch together for an Elder´s birthday!

President and Hermana Resu came with us to visit a less-active family that live in the mountains. It was super fun; they made us really good Columbian food.

Fires and Fiestas!!

Oh my goodness, familia, how are you all? How is your summer going??? It sounds like it's just a huge party out there on Butternut and at the cabin! I'm so jealous! I hope you are all having so much fun! Okay, the world has officially ended. Glenn Campbell isn´t our home teacher anymore. I can´t believe it; that is just wild! Mom, thank you SO much for the package! You are the best--I seriously can´t thank you enough for all you do for me. I´m officially the most spoiled missionary ever. Huge shout-out to Carrie this week! I hope you have such a wonderful birthday! I wish I could be there to celebrate with you, but know that I am thinking about you and love you so much!

Today is super weird cause it´s my 9-month mark!!!!!!!!!!!! I´m freaking out. I seriously feel like I just barely got here--seriously, I have no idea how the time flies like this. I thought earlier in my mission that I would get to my halfway mark and feel super accomplished and good, but I just feel sad! I literally am so sad--I love my mission with all my heart and the thought of only having 9 months left just makes me so sad. It´s the weirdest thing ever. I think I´ll just be a missionary forever.

This week was CRAZY!!!!!! Literally, it was the craziest week of my mission, maybe my life haha. It was so fun though! I will tell you the miracles, and then the craziness. First of all, we are teaching the friend of this incredible family in our branch, named Beatriz. She is reading the BOM and LOVES IT!!!!!!!! She is learning so much, and she loves what we teach her. She is super sensitive to the Spirit and it´s amazing. We are super excited!

Another miracle: we were walking down the street and I was on the phone, but Hermana Noakes had the feeling to talk to a woman we passed. The woman said "Wow, I would love to learn about your Church--do you have time right now?" WOW!!!!!!!! That never happens. Ever. haha. But she is incredible! We taught her a lesson about the BOM and everything right there and she loved it all and said she would read it and come to church and everything! It was a huge miracle!

Then we got a call from the elders about a woman named Karla that called them. She has been taught all the lessons, but never wanted to get baptized. She said that she hasn´t been able to sleep for months because she keeps thinking about our church and how it´s true. She wanted to talk to us about how she can really know for sure if it´s true. We had an incredible lesson with her on a bench--the Spirit was SO strong, and she promised to really pray and find out for herself if it´s true. She´s amazing!

We are also teaching Marina and she´s still doing well--still praying about baptism. But she´s still as cute as ever :)

And Diego, Ana, and Mateo came to church again!!!!!! And guess what? Tatiana got made RS President yesterday! It was the biggest miracle ever, and she´s going to be incredible. Also, Alexander blessed the sacrament, and I was so proud of him I just could've died. The best part is that Diego, Ana, and Mateo LOVE church and have a light about them that everyone is talking about. Usually they are super shy, but they have come out of their shells and seriously have a new light about them! It´s the best thing ever, and I´m so excited for them. I love that family so much, it´s just unreal. And Alexander is bringing his friends to lessons still and they love learning about our Church! It´s the best.

Okay now here is the craziness--here is story number 1. So the four of us in our apartment were coming home one night, and we started to unlock the door. All of the sudden we hear a thump on the other side of the door. We were terrified! We all stepped back and were staring at the door as it started to open--from the other side!!!!!!! Our faces were probably so funny cause we were in terror--for real. This guy opens the door and his face looks like how I felt--sheer horror. We all screamed at each other until he realized what happened and told us to calm down, as his girlfriend peeked around the corner of the door--she had been hiding haha. Turns out we had the wrong floor! Oh my gosh, it was so funny, cause all of us were terrified. We all laughed about it after haha.

Story number 2! Okay, so Hermana Noakes and I are coming home one night, and I open the door and walk into piso. We had smelled smoke in the elevator, but didn't think much of it. We heard the smoke alarm, but thought it was the neighbors. I open the door and look to the left into the kitchen. I see smoke and everything is red. I look to the stove and I see a FIRE!!!!!!!! Straight up FUEGO!!!!!!!!!!!! I freaked out and realized I heard screaming. I look to the right to see Hermana Dorgia screaming in pain, holding her hand, which was covered in boiling oil. Without thinking I yanked her to the bathroom and put her hand into water while Hermana Porter and Noakes booked it into the kitchen to put out the fire! Meanwhile they were opening all the windows to get the smoke out, but it was really windy, so all the doors were slamming. It was WILD!!!!!!!! Seriously like a movie! Finally everything got calmed down and poor Hermana Dorgia was just sobbing with pain. Turns out they had left some oil on the stove on high while they were doing their planning. Right before we walked in, Hermana Dorgia had realized what happened and yanked the pan off the oven so that all the oil fell all over her hand and burned her--as the fire started! It was crazy, I tell you. So we went to the ER and were there til 1:00 in the morning. She´s okay, just has a super bad burn--her skin is completely purple and blistered. It was seriously the craziest thing ever haha!

Also, we are starting lots of activities to get this branch more unified--so we were in charge of the Relief Society activity, the missionary activity, and partly in charge of this huge welcome-home party for a missionary that came home. So we practically lived in the chapel cooking, decorating, cleaning, and setting up for the next party haha! It was wild but super fun.

Okay, sorry--you probably are all bored to death; that was the longest email of my life, but I just had a lot to tell you! But I love this work, and I wouldn't be doing anything else right now. This work is so important and we all have a part in it and I know the Lord loves us so much! I love you all SO much and hope you have such a wonderful week!

Love, Hermana Boyer :)

Email from Zaragoza

Hola familia!!!!!!!!!!!!

¿Que tal?? How are you all?? Happy Fourth of July! How was it?? I heard there were some fun festivities at the cabin and all sorts of things! I hope it was so fun! I was thinking about you all hoping it was a super fun day :) How is everyone´s summer! I can´t believe Matt´s in Thailand! That is super wild. I hope he has so much fun! I hope you are all happy and loving summer! :)

This week was super good! We had so many amazing miracles happen. I just have to say a couple things about Hermana Noakes--she is seriously the funniest person I've ever met haha. I love her so much! We are having so much fun together. We are SUPER different, but best friends. She says exactly what´s on her mind and it´s so funny. She is super loving and just loves everyone. She talks to EVERYONE--literally every time we sit next to anyone anywhere she talks to them like they've been best friends forever and everyone just loves her. It´s so funny. She is hilarious and always has me laughing. She is working super hard though and has brought such a good vibe to this branch! She has lots of good ideas and is super good with working with members. We are seeing so many miracles here!

Yesterday the best thing ever happened--Diego and Anabel and Mateo came to church! Alexander´s family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Their whole entire family came to church for the first time!!!!!!! Oh my gosh, I almost died. I couldn´t stop smiling the entire meeting. It was the best thing ever to see them all together in church--for the first time! It was the biggest miracle ever cause we've been praying for that for SO long!!!! Ah, it was the best thing in the whole world!

So like I've said before, this branch has a lot of problems where there´s just not very much love and unity. So many scandals and bad things have happened that everyone has just closed off because everyone´s been hurt so much. We've been praying so hard to know what to do to help it. This week we made a plan though--that we are going to visit every member often to animate them to love and help us. Also, we are going to have a branch activity every week to get people unified. We are going to focus almost all our time on the members so we can fix problems in this branch. We have been having faith that the Lord would bless us because we aren't focusing on investigators as much as usual. And it´s been incredible! He has put SO many people in our path--in the houses of members, on the bus, and just right in our way as we've been working with the members. He is so good to us! It´s been incredible. So we are finding a lot, but also really trying to help this branch.

Here are some little, but really significant successes:


- We visited a woman who is so sweet, but has done so much for this branch and never seen good results, so she stopped caring. But we invited her to try again and to bring the love she has back to this branch. She shared her testimony in sacrament meeting about how she´s been thinking about that, and she´s ready now to give everything she has and love as much as she can. Huge victory! It was amazing!

- A family who is kind of going inactive had us over for a FHE, and they invited a neighbor who isn't a member. We taught Lesson 1 and the Spirit was incredible. Afterwards, the woman said that she had never felt anything like that and she wanted to know how she could get more. We told her about reading and praying. It was amazing, though, because it brought the Spirit into this home, and they were rejuvenated and so excited to help us with missionary work and get really involved in the branch. Huge miracle!

- A menos activo decided that he never wanted to come back to church again. We had a heart-to-heart with him and really helped him sort through things. He decided to come back, and he bore his testimony in church that was incredible! Yes!

- We met with Marina, the lady we are teaching that is amazing. She brought us more investigators! It´s unreal. Also, she decided that to help her friends understand better, she wants to act out the Book of Mormon and give everyone a part so they have to study and understand--isn't that wild? What investigator does that? We talked to her about baptism, and she says she wants to pray and receive an answer for herself. We are praying so hard that she receives it soon. She is amazing! Such a huge miracle.

Anyway, we are seeing such good things happen in this branch. We are just trying to love with everything and serve as much as we can, from cleaning a pregnant woman's house for 3 hours, to making a cake for a woman who doesn't have money to buy her son a cake for her birthday, to planning the welcome-party for a returned missionary, to being in charge of the Relief Society activity. I know as we continue to serve and just love, the Lord will help us bring a spirit of love and unity in this branch--it´s already working!

Also, we had a super fun 4th of July! We wore red, white and blue, and Hermana Noakes had us all say the Pledge and sing the National Anthem haha. We went to a store called Little Taste of America and bought American stuff. Then we met with the elders for lunch and made French toast. It was fun! :)

Well, I'm learning that the Lord really is in this work, that when we pray for Him to bless us with love, He does. I feel like He has blessed me to be able to love these people way more than I ever could by myself. It's incredible. Sometimes we have to just love and serve, and we see miracles. I know the Lord is with us and He loves us individually so much. He's with us in our struggles and our successes.

I am so grateful for all of you and your incredible example in my life! Have a wonderful week! Love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love, Hermana Boyer :)



Here we are ready for Church :)


Fourth of July!

I'm so sorry I didn't send pictures last week--I didn't have any! But I will be better about taking more :)