Email from Madrid (from Oct. 31)

Hola familia!!!

I'm so so so sorry that I didn't email yesterday!!! Today it's Dia de los Muertos here, so the teachers wanted today off, so they moved our p-day to Friday this week. I'm so sorry!

How have you been?? How was Halloween??? I bet the kids all looked so so cute! I want to see pictures of their costumes and everything! How was UEA? And all the birthdays? I hope they were so fun! Carrie, Joe and Martha I got your letters last night and it was the best thing ever!!!! I was so happy! Thank you so so so much for those!!! You are seriously the best and they made me so happy. I will send letters on their way I promise!! That is so cool that the 3rd Ward had a baptism!!! Wow I'm so excited that the new sisters are getting everything going! That makes me so happy that Karhma's daughter got baptized. That sounds amazing! Yay for the 3rd Ward!!!!

Wow, well this week has been awesome and crazy! This week has been wonderful, but kind of an emotional roller coaster haha. I don´t even know why, just all these crazy things have happened haha. But I love it here so much. So I will start with the park on Saturday! It wasn´t as crazy as last week getting referrals and stuff. last week the whole zone prayed for miracles, so I think that´s why all of us were so on fire. But this week was lots of seed planting. So I was with Sister Larsen, (who lives right by Cutler Lake Ben and Liza!) who was learning Russian and a Russian native. So I just kept praying that the Lord would guide my steps and He did! We ended up in this random place in the park taking all these turns. There was a guy a little older than me sitting on a bench, so we started talking to them. I talked to him about the Book of Mormon for about 25 minutes! Seriously! in Spanish! We talked about the Sermon on the Mount and all these things in the Book of Mormon and stuff. Then I said ¨Como se dice ´´are you sure?´´ and he laughed and said ´´i´m actually from Nebraska. I just wanted to practice my Spanish.´´ oh my! haha so dumb!!! We laughed really hard together and talked for like 15 more minutes. He was a really cool guy and we definitely planted a seed cause he thought Mormons were really weird, but he was glad he talked to us. then there was another guy from Brazil who came up to us and said, ´´are you Mormons? I love Mormons! Do you have a book I could read about it?´´ Do we ever!!!!! Man it was awesome. I love the park.

Another cool thing was last weekend, the Area Authority Elder Karen came and spoke to us. He walked in the room and saw us, and just wept. And so did we. Seriously, I have rarely felt that kind of spirit before from one person. This is weird, but I think that being around him is honestly how I think it will feel to be around the Savior. We were stunned by him. He just gave us this awesome pep talk about why we are there and how to get through and stuff. He was amazing.

So Monday was a crazy day! So we gave a lesson to one of our investigators about the Apostasy, and it was awful haha. She had all these questions and we couldn´t say the answers in English. It was miserable. Afterward, our teacher told us that we could´ve done a lot better and she gave us all this feedback that was actually pretty harsh haha. I know it´s dumb, but I cried! Right then and there! It´s the first time Í´ve broken down since being here and that just did it haha. It was so silly. But then later, that day we taught Fernando, our other investigator who hasn´t been doing that well, and the Spirit was SO strong!!! So we committed him to baptism!!!!! AH!!!!! It sounds so dumb, but it was the best! I know they aren´t real, but they feel real because the Spirit is there! We were so happy haha. That night was also really sad because the Russian and Portuguese missionaries left and we love them so much. There were lots of tears as we said goodbye. We had a party that night with Domino's Pizza and I almost died. It was so yummy!!!!!!!!

So the next day, we are doing our language study, and a teacher walks in with a sister and says, ´´and here is your new companion, Hermana Boyer!´´ whoa, hold up. What?! Her name is Sister Stratham. She´s from American Fork and she was learning Russian in the Provo MTC, but is finishing here for 6 weeks. So the teacher took her away, and the 3 of us cried haha. Straight up cried together. It was so silly. But I love my companions SO MUCH. Like they are my BFFS!!!! So that was totally unexpected, but Sister Stratham is really cool. She is very sensible and smart. I haven´t had a lot of time to get to know her cause we are only with her at meals and physical activity and in our room. But she is cool. It´s just been hard to balance having 3 companions pretty much haha. But she´s awesome. . . . Hermana Shelton is my saving grace. Truly, I don´t know what I would do without her! We get each other through everything and we think the same about everything. she is one of those people that I will be best friends with forever. I´m SO grateful for her!

So another thing that was crazy this week is that I got called to be a Sister Training Leader! Sister Stratham and I just need to take care of the sisters and interview them and everything. It´s really cool! I´m way excited about it. Last night was put to the test cause one of the Albanian sister had kidney stones and is passing them, so we stayed up with her. It was crazy. I feel like I am going from one person to the next taking care of them haha. But I´m grateful for that, I love being able to serve.

I love this MTC!!!! The elders are seriously the best. Since we are pretty much the only sisters that speak English, we are way tight with all the elders and they are like our brothers. Our district is the BEST. They totally understand when we are emotional, mad, sad, happy, crazy, anything. They are like our brothers because they take care of us and we to them. I love it so much! Yesterday for Halloween our teachers brought us candy and we had bought some so we had a Halloween fiesta and that was fun :)

So another one of my favorite things we do here is sing at the Temple! every Sunday night we sing on the Temple steps and people gather around to come watch. It´s amazing! I love it. The Temple is honestly the prettiest Temple I think I´ve ever been in. But it´s so cool to sing because people just come watch and they can totally feel the Spirit. I love it. This week I had an incredible experience in the Temple. I don´t know if I´m just a lot more spiritually in tune, or if this Temple is just extra special, but every week is like the best temple experience I´ve ever had haha. But this time as I was finishing the session, I just had this overwhelming feeling that this mission is going to bless my posterity so much. There was a certain part in the session where I felt that SO strongly. I realized that this will bless my family, my kids, my husband, and my posterity forever. It was amazing! I felt so much joy I thought that I would burst. It was absolutely incredible. I love that Temple more than I can even explain!

Wow, I just want you all to know that I love it here and that I wouldn´t trade this for anything. As I was in the park, I just had this overwhelming feeling of love for these people and that there is nowhere else in the world that I should be. I´m so so excited to be here and I wouldn´t trade it for anything. It is really hard, and . . . I feel like it´s an emotional roller coaster, but I am doing my best to work my hardest, laugh a lot, and give it my all. There are a lot of things that are hard, but it´s awesome. I love it!!! I am completely in love with Spain, I wish you could all see it. A bunch of you asked about the food--I know you blessed me to love Spanish food Dad, but here´s the thing-- this is cafeteria food haha. I´m sure I will love real Spanish food haha. Everyday we fight with the elders over the the Nutella because we eat it with bread at every single meal, no joke. But it´s all good, I´m surviving. We´ve all lost some weight, but we´re good. I am eating enough I promise :) oh and you all asked about Spanish-- it´s getting better I think! I was really happy when I could carry on that conversation with the guy in the park about really detailed things. I am getting better at tenses, which is the thing that holds me back the most. I think it´s coming along, but I have a ton of work to do. But I love learning it!

I love you all more than I can even tell you! I hope you have an amazing week!!! Thank you for supporting me and praying for me- I truly feel those prayers, no joke. Thank you so so so much! I can´t even tell you how much I love you!!!!

Con amor, Hermana Boyer :)


PS-- tell Melony Hamilton thank you so much for her hymnbook she gave me! That was so thoughtful that she got that for me and I use it tons of times everyday! And tell the Terrys and the Ogdens thank you so so so much too! I will try to write them letters, but I don´t have much time to write. But tell them thank you SO MUCH!!!!

Email from Madrid

Hola mi familia!!!!!!!!! How are you?????? I am so sorry that I didn´t get to email last thursday! They didn´t let us because we had just gotten there so we didn´t have a pday. How are you?? I have so much I want to tell you it´s unreal!!!! I have been thinking about you all so much!!! Okay so it´s kind of weird- I have two times to email on Thursday for half an hour each, so I am going to print the email you send earlier at 11 and then write back later at 5 or 6. So Dad asked if if would be best to email me or write me? I only have half hour to answer emails and then the other is to write this email, so I can write you back faster, but itwon´t be very long. But I can write long letters so those would be great!!! But Anna emailed me a picture and letter and I LOVED it!! and thank you Martha SO SO much for the notes on my blessing and for the letter! I was SO HAPPY! YOu guys are too good to me! I wish you could understand how much I love you!

Okay so here´s about my week!!! WOW!!!! I absolutely LOVE It here!!!!!!! So last week was kind of crazy cause we were so tired and jet lagged, but it was good. It was seriously the longest week of my entire existence. I feel like I´ve been here for weeks haha. But this week FLEW by!!! But I love it SO MUCH!!

So the MTC here has 41 missionaries! Isn´t that so crazy how small it is?? I love it so much though! So about half of those are spanish missionaries from north america like me. We are the only spanish speaking sisters. Then there are native Russians going to Russia, native French speakers goign to France, and lots of Portuguesse people going to Portuguses. So every meeting we have has all this translation going on it´s so crazy!! I love it so much though having so many cultures, it´s so so cool. So my companions are Hermana Shelton, who is way chill, funny, and down to earth she is awesome- and Hermana Knell who is way funny! She was a cheerleader from Bountiful and she acts like one haha (no offense Mo), but she is amazing i love her SO much.

Anyway, they are the best! And my district is THE BEST!!!! It´s Elder Rawlinson from Pleasant Grove, who is super obedient and naiive, but so so funny and he is so cool. Then there´s Elder Schwenke from Provo who is a Polynesian super star football player (recruited for both the U and BYU when he gets home) and he´s SO chill and SO funny. Seriously my favorite human. I love them so so much! they are like our brothers. Everyday they laugh with us, sympathize with us when it´s hard, and help us feel the spirit so much. They are honestly like my family!

So what do we do here?? So every day we have spanish classes, Gospel classes, and meals basically haha. We have physical activity everyday where we can play soccer or whatever. I usually go running around the soccer stadium or something like that. it´s awesome. but we can walk or run wherever, which is amazing!!! it´s so chill here. And P days are THE BEST!!! We get to go to the temple every p day morning and i just have to tell you that the Madrid Temple is my new favorite Temple. Mom and Dad- we HAVE to go there, it´s absolutely GORGEOUS and I can´t get over it. Seriously, so pretty. stunning. I love it so much! Then we get to do whatever we want in the afternoon! Today we went to Sol, the center of Madrid. I was freaking out!!! It was ah-mazing! Okay, I legitly cried when we passed the Prado- not joking. I´ve wanted to see that my whole life!!!! It´s exactly how I pictured Europe- small streets, huge plazas, equestrian statues everywhere, cobblestone streets- i was FREAKING OUT!!! So we got off the bus and we were all gaping and so excited and I was all teary and one elder says "I am definitely not in Wyoming anymore." well said elder. haha. it was really funny. ah it was the best day! We went to corte ingles- which is 7 stories of all american stuff! It was the best. Then we just went around the streets. we went to this candy store and i felt like a little kid in willy wonka and the chocolate factory cause it was the best candy ever! We got ice cream and tried chocolate covered churros- a legacy in Madrid haha. They weren´t that good but Im´glad we tried them!!!

So my favorite part of this week and of being here is the park. Every Saturday afternoon we get to go to this HUGE GORGEOUS AMAZING park and proselyte!!! Truly, I was more nervous for this than I was for when I actually left to come here haha. SO SCARY! But it was amazing, I cna´t even tell you. So we switch companions for the day, so I was with Sister Brown, who is American going to Russia, so she doesn´t speak any spanish! Ah!!!! Okay, we got THREE REFERRALS!!!! They said if you get one that that´s really good!!! BAH! So the best was in the park, a portuguese lady came up to us crying and said that she had just prayed to God that he would send her hope, and then she saw us and it was an answer to her prayer! WHAT?! So we gave her a book of mormon and picture of Christ and she was so grateful. It was amazing. Then we found a guy who was Romanian and he loved hearing about the Book of Mormon and wanted to know more! So we got his number and stuff and it wsa the best! I was absolutely Walking on air!!!! It was the best thing ever and it made me so so insanely excited to do that for 18 months! It was so scary cause my spanish is ver ylimited, but the Lord provides for you and it´s amazing! I loved it so much.

So speaking of Spanish, my Spanish is okay, but not awesome! I´m SO glad I have 4 years of spanish back ground because EVERYTHING here is in Spanish! Big surprise! But really, some of my teachers don´t even speak engish haha. If I didn´t know what I knew before I came, I would be toast. But I´m learning and I can teach a discussion in Spanish! I can understand almost anything, but I can´t speak as well as I´d like. But I love learning spanish and it´s so fun to speak! And especially with the theta- the lisp!!! It´s so funny to hear it, but it sounds really normal now that i´m used to it. It feels like my tongue is really big when I speak with it cause it feels so weird. I love it though. hermana shelton and I are at abou the same level, which is awesome. I´m better at understanding, and she´s better at speaking, which is awesome. We are dynamite team! Oh and I´m SO grateful I memorized the First Vision in spanish and my purpose as a missionary in spanish before I came because that has saved me tons of stress! yay! So its crazy cause we are in class literally 24/7, but we have like 3 hours worth of stuff to do every night. It´s kind of stressful haha, but I love it. I´m learning how to use my time very wisely :)

So our MTC president is President Sitterud and he is the best. He reminds me exactly of President Monson by the way he speaks and how he looks! It´s hilarious. His wife is amazing and the most down to earth woman ever. She has helped us SO much with the situation with my companion. I´m so grateful for them. So the food is pretty gross, but not too bad. I´m surviving haha. They have bread and nutella and fruit at every meal, so I´m okay haha. Usually there´s one pretty good meal a day :) oh and the ice cream we get twice a week is muy delicioso. But I really am surviving. Today I bought snacks at the grocery store so I´m set :)

So everyday we teach investigators, and it´s the best! We have two investigators (who are our teachers haha) but its amazing to teach them! it´s really scary cause it´s all in Spanish, but it´s amazing. The Spirit is there and I can feel the Spirit guiding our lessons even though they aren´t real. But they are crazy! It´s so cool to be able to teach in Spanish, and especially to be able to pray in Spanish. I love it!!

Okay, the elders are making fun of me for writing so much haha. Sorry this is SO LONG!!! They probably won´t be able to be this long every week, but I just had so much to tell you! PRobably most of you have gotten bored by now, but if you are still reading this, know how much I love you! I wish you could know how grateful I for all you´ve done for me, especially the weekend I left. Thank you so much fro all your support and for being so amazing. I miss you all so much that sometimes it makes me sad, but I´´ve never gotten homesick :) But I love you all so much, I wish I could tell you how much!!!! Thank you a million times over!!! I love you!!!

Love, Hermana Boyer :)




This is us outside the temple! The middle one is Hermana Shelton and the other is Hermana Knell. I love them so much!



This is my view from my window! Gorgeous huh? I will try to send more next week!