Feelin' the Love

My beautiful family!!!! How are you?????? How was your week???? Tell me about your lives!!! Tell Lucy happy birthday for me!!! I can´t believe she´s 7 now! What is this??? Tell her I love her so much!!! And Melba--Happy Birthday on Friday? Whatever day the 28th is haha. But I hope it´s magical! That´s so fun that Mom and Dad are going down there! What a party. How is everyone? Joe--you took a full time job with Mindshare!!! Congrats--that´s so fun! And Marianne is set with her Dad? Look at you two just living the life!! I hope you are all happy and healthy and safe and living the dream.  :)

This week was crazy! It was super crazy with transfers and everything! So my new companion is Hermana Anderson--she is from Mesa, Arizona, and is amazing! So Linz--you know her aunt or something? I will have to ask her about that. That´s crazy! She is amazing though. She is Sister Training Leader--which is basically like a zone leader for sisters. She is literally one of the best missionaries in our mission--everyone tells me that and after this week I can totally see why. She uses her time so well and is so smart about the work. She doesn´t contact; she visits people, goes through the ward list to hunt down the people we don´t know, and all this crazy stuff. We are seeing lots of miracles, and I´m so excited for the fire she´s bringing to Badalona. We get along really well--she is really chill and fun and down-to-earth, which is so good. This week was different because the bond you have with your trainer is unlike anything else, so I missed Hermana Tyler so much, because we are so close. So this week was kind of an adjustment, because their styles and personalities are totally different, but it was good. Also cause Hermana Anderson is Sister Training Leader, she has to do an exchange every week with different Hermanas--which means I will be part of a trio once a week and our area will be left alone for one day every week. So that´s kind of a bummer. But that´s okay--she is incredible, and I´m so grateful for the chance to learn from her, cause she is a superstar.

This week we had a lot of miracles!!! So Barry--our African friend doesn't answer his phone very much and doesn't come to our citas, cause Africans are just so chill that they don´t plan or anything haha. So we are still trying to get on him and come, so we´ll so how that goes.

But--okay, so a few weeks ago we contacted a lady named Gloria who I thought was African. This week we finally had a cita with her, and she walked in and I didn´t recognize her--she was from Bolivia and said she was Gloria. We were like, okay cool! So we had a Lesson 0 with her, and she´s AMAZING!!! Perfect investigator. She was so excited to get baptized, asked what she has to do to get baptized, and cried when we told her how the Book of Mormon is going to bless her life. It was so amazing that I was just in disbelief the whole time. We are convinced that she fell from the sky and her number appeared in our phone, cause it´s not the same lady we contacted a while ago. Ah, so good! So we thought she lived in the elder´s area, so we had a pass-off lesson with her and we realized that she thought she had to read the whole book of Mormon before she was baptized in two weeks--and she still agreed to be baptized!!! We told her she didn´t have to and she was relieved haha. How faithful is she??? We were so happy. It turns out she actually lives in our area--so we have her!! Ah, she is so perfect, I can barely stand it. The first lesson I told her how much I love her nail polish, so the next time, she brought it and gave it to me! We both painted our nails for church so she could see it. Unfortunately, she didn´t come to church and we don´t know what happened, but that´s okay. She is the best!!! YAY!!!

Also, Cesar is going to quit his football team!! Ah, by football I mean soccer haha. I don´t know what language I´m ever speaking. But yes!! MIRACLE. Can I get a halleleujah everyone. When he said that I had to stop myself from jumping out of my chair and running around screaming! So hopefully he means it and he will do it!! But he has a fecha for March 22, and we are praying and fasting and doing everything we can for that to happen! Cause he is so prepared, it´s unreal. I love him!! AH!!!!!

We also have tons of less-actives that we visit every week and they are the best!! I love them so much. Menos activos are the pride and joy of my mission. Here there are tons, because people come to Spain from their countries and they forget about the Church, but they still have testimonies. This week we got a reference to go visit this menos activo family and they are the best! The mom is super faithful and loves us and wants to feed us all the time and stuff, and her family is super inactive--but we are going to fix that! Ah, I love menos activos, they are the joy of my heart!!!

So basically, life is different, still adjusting, a little homesick for Hermana Tyler, super stoked to learn all of Hermana Anderson´s skills, and loving the people here more than I ever thought I could. I am so grateful that I can be here serving--every time we meet with a member or menos activo or investigator, I am just so overwhelmed with love for them that I can barely stand it. But it´s a different kind of love--just purely Christlike, because we are serving them and helping them feel the love of the Savior in their lives. I love these people with all my heart and more--I am so humbled and grateful to be here serving them, having them cry on our shoulders, laughing with their families, playing with their kids, strengthening their testimonies, and all coming closer to the Savior together. This work is real. I love it so much, even though it pushes us so much and is hard sometimes. I wouldn´t trade it!

I love you all so much I can barely stand it! Have a wonderful week!!! I love you all and pray for you all the time!!

Love, Hermana Boyer :)

P.S. There´s a guy in our ward that every single Sunday asks me what the meaning of my last name is, and every time I forget to ask!! He is dying to know though, so anyone have any ideas?? :)

Pictures!!

This is a forward of some of Hermana Tyler´s pictures!

This is Martina--one of our menos activos, and she is seriously my best friend. We laugh so hard together!

This is Maria Casco- she is a member that feeds us a lot and she´s so cute!

This is Vanessa--she is the super star of the ward--she has like 6 callings literally and she´s an RM too. 

This is Cesar!!!! The one and only. BFFs forevs.

This is Nelly! The one that we knocked her door and found her, and she is seriously the sweetest woman I know. I love her so much it hurts! She is my miracle.

This is Claudia and Carlos--she is the RS president and from Mexico. They are super strong in the Church, the absolute best! We eat at her house every Thursday night, and I feel more at home in their house than anywhere else in Spain. I love them so much!

These were the missionaries in our ward before the last transfer--the farthest one on the right moved and Hermana Tyler--but the other ones are still here. The two boys in the back are our zone leaders, and they are amazing!

This is me with Jose!!! He was my valentine :) He is our recent convert and is doing so well! Ah, I love him so much it´s unreal.

Changes in Badalona!

My beautiful family!!!

How are you?????? Happy late Valentine´s Day! I hope it was really good! Oh and President´s Day!!! I hope it was a fun day!! It sounds like St. George was a party and a half, and I hope you all did something fun!!!! Ah, I love you all so much!!!! Thank you so much Anna and Martha for the letters this week! I loved them so much and they totally made my day!!!! Ah, I have the best family in the world, it´s unreal.

Wow!!! What a week haha. So Hermana Tyler is leaving Badalona!!!! I am so sad!!!! This is her home--she opened this area and when she got here; it was the first time they had Hermanas in this area (there´s always been two sets of Elders in this ward, but not Hermanas), so the ward freaked out and just took her in like family. She´s been here for 6 months, so it´s so crazy she´s leaving! The whole ward was so sad. So it´s been fun cause this week we've visited tons of members and all of our less actives--all the people in our lives here. It was fun for Valentine´s Day--we made cards for tons of people and took them brownies and cards and got to visit them--so it was so fun! Usually I'm not a fan of Valentine´s Day, but this time it was so fun!  :) Who knew haha. So it´s way sad that she´s leaving! She leaves today in like 2 hours. She´s going to Matarell--a little city outside Barcelona the other direction about an hour away. My new companion is Hermana Andersen, and I've heard she´s from Arizona and super nice--so that will be good! It will be weird, cause now I have to know all the people and streets and everything about this area to teach her--but I feel ready, and I'm up for it. So it will be an adventure, but it will be good! But I will miss Hermana Tyler like no other cause she and I are so tight and I love her so much!!!! Ah, changes in the mission are unreal.

This week was so good!!! Okay--WE HAVE A FECHA!!!!!! A baptism date!!!!!! YAY!!!!!! Okay, everyone says baptisms don´t fall from the sky, but this one literally did. So a few weeks ago, the elders contacted a Nigerian man named Barry, and they said he is really good, so they gave us his number cause he lives in our area. But he never answered his phone. But this week the elders saw him, and it turns out Barry was traveling, but he´s here now and wants to be taught!!! So the elders called us and we went straight the the capilla right then and there and taught him!!! We set a fecha with him for March 1!!! WaHOOO!!!!!! We were freaking out! Nigerians are the BEST--we have this community of Africans in our ward that are literally the most chill people I've ever met, and they all speak English! They are such a party!!! So Barry said he wants to learn, and he wants to become a Mormon, and he´s going to tell all his friends to come listen to the word of God and come be a Mormon with him haha--they are the best people. I love them so much!!!! YAY!!!! Such a miracle. Unreal.

Another miracle!! Yesterday we had such a good lesson with Cesar! He has been loving the lessons, and he totally feels the Spirit all the time, and his prayers are so good, and he loves the lessons, but he is so afraid of having a fecha, even though we've pushed him so much. But yesterday we had a lesson on baptism and we just talked to him and worked through his doubts and his fears and just listened to him. It turns out that the only thing scaring him is leaving his soccer team--ah, stupid Satan is the worst. But yesterday we were able to tell him how important baptism is and the sacrament, and he finally got it and decided to change his life, and he's gonna get baptized!!! YAY!! POR FIN!!!!! That lesson was seriously completely driven by the Spirit--I seriously felt words just coming out of my mouth, and all three of us knew that we were feeling the Spirit so strongly. Ah, I´m obsessed with teaching; it´s the best thing in the world!!!!

Okay, today is super crazy, cause I need to go pick up Hermana Andersen and drop off Hermana Tyler, and we are doing an intercambio with two of the brand new missionaries, and we have no food or beds or anything, so I need to sort out my life, so I don't have much time. I´m so sorry!!! But know that I am so happy, and I love being a missionary more than anything in the world! I love these people here in Spain more than I ever thought I could--I just feel so overwhelmed with love! I love speaking Spanish, I love teaching, I love contacting, and I love life! This Gospel is TRUE!!!!!

I love you all with all my heart and soul!!!!
Love, Hermana Boyer :) :)

P.S. Mo asked if it´s an exaggeration that the elders baptize every week--that wasn´t haha!!! One set of elders are the zone leaders, and they are incredible, and their area is full of Africans and South Americans, so they literally have had a baptism every week since I've been here. This last week they had 3, and the week before they had 3 too--2 different families! Crazy huh?? They are amazing, and I love them and look up to them so much!!!!

¡Que Fuerte!

My beautiful family!!! 

How are you?????? How is everyone doing??? I have the best family in the world--I just hope you all know that I love you so dang much I can barely stand it!!!! I hope everyone is happy and healthy! Thank you so much Mom, Birks and Linscotts for the letters!!!! I loved them so much I just couldn´t stop smiling :) You are all seriously the best!!!!! Just so you all know, transfers are next week, so my preparation day will be on Tuesday, so when you don´t get an email from me on Monday, don´t think I forgot about y'all :)

So ¡que fuerte! is my favorite Spanish expression because it works for everything haha. I say it all the time. And it kind of just describes this week!!! It was a really good week!!!!

So . . . we have a family to teach!!!!! I'm just freaking out a little bit. I think I told you last week that this family is from Honduras and that they live with a young couple who are members. We´ve been wanting to teach them forever, but it just hasn´t happened cause their schedules are all crazy. But last week, we were able to teach the 19-year-old son and his friend!!! It was the BEST!!!! So this week, we were able to teach the Mom, Vilma, and the 9-year-old daughter, Wanda. It was really good!!! The mom used to go to church with her friend so she already knew who Joseph Smith is and everything! Wahoo! And they have family at home that are members! SO golden. Unreal. The hard thing is though that everytime we go over there, we never know who it will be, so it´s hard. But yesterday we fasted so hard that something would happen with them and that they will progress. So, we decided to pass by last night at 9:30 really fast . . . and they were all there!!!!! The mom, the 19 year-old, the 16-year-old son, and Wanda. It was the best thing ever! We were so happy! We hung out with them and talked to them and they all wanted to talk to us. We shared with them a scripture and then set up a FHE with them for next week! YAY!!! We were so happy it was a huge miracle!!! We were floating home last night even though it was dumping rain. Best thing of my life!!! They are the coolest family--the two boys are total gangstas haha. But they love us two because they think everything we say is funny and they love how American we are. They are so funny! Ah!!! I am praying SO hard that they will get baptized!!!!!!

So our other investigator, Cesar, is still plugging along!!!! This week we taught him the Plan of Salvation and he loved it. We invited him to be baptized a gain, and he sitll said he doesn´t feel ready. I got super fuerte- bold with him and he got all defensive. It was like the boldest I´ve ever been with anyone. (Okay, I thought I would learn how to be sweeter on my mission, but I'm just getting bolder and sassier--you´ll see, it´s funny.) But anyway, he still doesn't feel ready--but we fasted for him too, so that means a miracle is on its way!!!!! But he is the best and I love him a ton.

This week we had two days where we didn't have many citas, so we contacted a ton!! Now we are contacting around 70 people every day when we don´t have many citas. It´s crazy! It´s so fun though-- Hermana Tyler makes it hilarious and we just laugh so hard together. Here are some of the things that happened while contacting this week:

-I asked one man if he believes in God and he said "no, but I believe in girls" and just smiled at us. I had never gotten that before, so I had nothing to say. .. . . uh, well in that case, see ya later! It was awkward.

-We went up to one way scary-looking lady outside a bar and asked her if she´s a believing person and she put her hands up in the rock sign and yelled "Satanas!!!!" (Satan!!!!!) We were like, okay, nevermind. She just didn't quite get it.

-We talked to this one man carrying a megaphone and he said he has been called as a prophet and he preaches the gospel with his megaphone in the streets. He said we were supposed to meet him so he could tell us that there´s a verse in the Bible that says women can´t preach. He said we shouldn't preach and we shouldn't have hair either. He lifted up my hair to see my ears and condemned my earrings too. Weird. People.

Another funny story from this week--we have English classes every week for anyone to come and to get investigators. We were teaching and we had one guy stand and say all the conjugations of "put" so like I put, you put, etc. He couldn´t make the "t" sound, so it was a "p" sound. So he was saying, I poop, you poop, he poops, we all poop. Hermana Tyler and I were laughing so hard we couldn't stop him--I literally had tears coming down my face. The elders had to take over cause we couldn't get control of ourselves haha.

This week we got fired on a ton, which is fine because we had lots of other miracles! But on Friday after we got fired on for the 3rd time (we had called all the people that morning and they all told us they would for sure be at our cita), I turned to Hermana Tyler and said "every people is bugging me" like Lizzie said that one time. She loved it so much and thought it was so funny.

Well, that´s all folks! This Church is SO true!!!! I´m so grateful that the Lord really is hastening His work!!!! Today I was listening to a CD and the words from Redeemer of Israel stuck out to me--"Fear not, and be just, for the Kingdom is ours, the hour of redemption is near." The kingdom is ours, everyone!!! We can all do our part to prepare this kingdom for the Lord´s coming. If you pray for chances to share the gospel, I know they will come. This is such an exciting time to be a missionary and a member of the Church!! I love this gospel so much, and my testimony literally is strengthened every day as I share it with everyone I see. I love this work!!

I love you all so so so much!!!! Thank you so much for your prayers and your support and love! It really means the world to me!!!!! Have the best week ever!!! Happy Valentine´s Day!!! I hope it´s magical :)

¡Les amo MUCHISIMO!!!

Hermana Boyer

Nourished by the Good Word . . . and an American Milkshake

Hola my familia hermosa!!! Que tal??? How are you all???? Okay, I can´t believe another puppy has been added to the family!!!! As soon as I leave, all these puppies come haha! That´s so fun though!! Jack is the cutest name--I can´t wait to meet he and Dusty! Here´s a shout-out to Sam--Happy Birthday Bud! I know he doesn´t read this, but someone pass it along. I can't believe he turns 9 this week! Thanks so much for the letters everyone! Lizzie, Birks, Joe and Marianne! I loved them so much and they totally made my day!!!

This week was SO good! It was so fun and so much spiritual goodness! First of all though--oh my goodness, we are freezing it up here in Barcelona!!! Everyone says that February is the coldest month here and I kind of brushed that off--but oh my goodness, it´s a different kind of cold than I've ever experienced! It goes right to your bones haha. But that´s okay--we are surviving anyway.  :)

But this week we had a 2-day Specialized Training from President and Hermana Pace! It was incredible--I learned so so much and it was exactly what we needed. We got so many ideas of how to get our area on fire and it was so awesome! I love the Paces so much!

Okay--so many miracles!!! This was the best--so on Monday night we were meeting with a less-active couple who are really strong, they just work on Sundays. They have a family of 4 from Honduras living with them that are interested in the Church. We have wanted to teach them forever, but the schedules are all super crazy. So they were telling us they want us to teach this family--and the son and his friend walked in and we taught them!!! So there´s a mom, 2 teenage sons, and a younger daughter. The 2 sons are total gangstas haha. They are the best! So we taught the 16 year old one--Maynor and his friend Luis (equally as G). They were so nice and we teased them and just had so much fun becoming friends with them. They had tons of questions about life and death and all that good stuff. So we taught them the Plan of Salvation! They were super receptive and liked what we said. The couple helped a ton by relating everything to them and bearing their testimonies. It was so good! We were so happy we were floating afterwards. We are going to teach them! So the bummer is that yesterday we had a cita with them and it didn´t go through, but that´s okay! It was a huge miracle and we are so excited to teach them.

This week was so funny because I was so bold!!!! I love adrenaline as a lot of you know, and for some reason this week I was craving adrenaline so much. Usually I crave it, but get it out skiing or something crazy. But this time it came out in missionary work! Every time we contacted this week--I went crazy! I talked to every single person, no matter how creepy, intimidating, uninterested, rude, or scary they were haha. I bore my testimony to everyone and anyone that would listen and it felt so good! I went up to this group of men and told them they all need to come to church! When we knocked pisos, I rang all the doorbells on the floor at once to make it more exciting haha! It was crazy, I don´t know what happened, but I had so much energy and was craving adrenaline so bad! It felt so good though I loved it so much! So good.

So here´s some things about this week:
- We had a family home evening with the young single adults and it was SO fun!!! We are super tight with them, but we never get to hang out with them ever. But we played games with them and we were all laughing so hard we were crying. It felt like college again! It was so so fun.

- Cesar is progressing so well!!!!! We taught him Lesson one this week and he loved it! While we taught him the First Vision, the Spirit was so so strong--and he recognized it. He said that he loved the way we taught and that he felt that this was true. It was amazing! I was giddy on the Spirit by how strong it was. He said the sweetest, most sincere prayer afterwards and it was amazing!!! I love him so much! The only problem is still that he plays on a soccer team every Sunday. We are working with him on it, and it´s hard! But he knows he has to come, and he wants to, but he is on a team he can´t quit I guess. So we´re praying super hard that he can come to church, cause that´s the only thing keeping him from baptism.

- Remember Enrique? Our golden guy that peaced out to Sweden?? He called us this morning!!! We were grocery shopping and I yelled when I saw his name on the phone! We were so happy we were dying. So we are going to teach him when he gets home!!!

- This week I got to eat an American Milkshake!!! Best thing of my life. A few weeks ago we were eating with a young member couple and they asked the food we miss the most from home, and I told them milkshakes. This week they took us to this American 50s restuarant and we ate real milkshakes! I was so happy I could´ve died. It was so good haha. And the place was so fun! It had Elvis and the "Stand by Me" soundtrack playing! It was the happiest ever.

- We had stake conference this weekend!! Yesterday Elder Ballard and some members of the 70 spoke to all of Spain from Salt Lake and it was amazing! It was so fun to hear from an apostol (is that how it is in English? I´m losing my English) and so many saints had never heard an apostole speak! It was amazing. Lots of the 70 spoke in Spanish, so that was fun to hear their Spanish. It was awesome!

- Last night we had a really wonderful experience. We were contacting and we got talking to a woman who started crying and told us her husband had just died suddenly a few weeks ago. We testified to her of the Plan of Salvation and the Savior and that she has hope of seeing her husband through the Savior. We gave her a Plan of Savation pamphlet and bore our testimonies of it. We ended up praying with her in the street and it was one of the most amazing prayers I´ve ever heard--Hermana Tyler said the sweetest things and it was incredible. The woman felt so much peace after and she kept thanking us for strengthening her. It was so sweet. It´s amazing to walk the streets lifting people up like the Savior would´ve done. I wish I could do that in my real life as real as we do it as misisonaries.

This week I have been thinking so much about the Atonement. I have been reading about when Christ comes to America and he says that He has glorified the name of the Father. I never understood what that meant. Then I was thinking that the Father´s glory is having mercy on His children. Without the Atonement, the Father couldn´t show us mercy because we couldn't live with Him in our sins. But because of the Atonement, the Father can show mercy on His children and we can live with Him again. The Atonement allows the Father to show mercy on His children, and that is His glory.

Sorry that was kind of deep but those are my thoughts! I love you all more than you will ever know! Thank you so so much for your support and love! I love you I love you I love you!!!

Love, Hermana Boyer :)

This is Hermana Tyler and me at Tibidabo--the castle/cathedral that looks out over all of Barcelona!


Me in front of Tibidabo!!! The cathedral is so pretty!!!


One of the views from the top!


Me with my milkshake!! I was so happy!!!!

Castles, Coughs, and Contacts

Hola familia!!

Que pasa?? I´m so sorry it took me longer to write today! We went to Tibidabo this morning!!!!! Like, the most famous castle in Barcelona! It was unreal!

But how are you all doing?? How was everyone´s week? How is the nasty inversion? Ugh I hate those haha. You´ve all been skiing it up I hear??? Ah, I'm so jealous it hurts haha. Today on the metro they showed a skiing video and I got butterflies in my stomach haha. I miss it so much!!

This week flew so fast!!! Things are good in Badalona!!! We are working super hard. I had probably the worst cold I've ever had this week haha, but that´s okay!!! We´ve been working super hard anyway. On Wednesday we contacted all day in the rain and it started my cold all over again haha. But that´s all right, I didn´t mind. I learned the hard way that cold medicine from Spain makes you incredibly sleepy haha. But it´s cool--who needs medicine anyway?!

Okay we have an investigator!!!! So remember Cesar--the guy who was totally drunk when we had a cita with him?? We had a real one this week!!! He was so good. He really is so humble and so ready for the Gospel, he just has some problems to deal with haha. But ah, I love him so much! So we had a Lesson 0-- where we teach them about the Book of Mormon, teach them how to pray, and invite them to baptism. In our mission, we are supposed to invite people to be baptized the first lesson haha. It´s so scary! I´m still praying to gain a testimony of that because it scares people haha. But President Pace is really strong on that, so I'm going to do it. So we taught him about the Book of Mormon and he was so excited--he pulled out a highlighter and colored Moroni´s promise! That probably doesn´t sound like anything special, but for an investigator, that´s huge! It was so cute. We tried to commit him to baptism, but he didn´t want to because he was afraid he´d disappoint us. But we´ll try again this week :) But the best part was that after we taught him to pray, he said his first prayer and he loved it! After, he kept saying how good he felt and that he had never felt like that before. Yay!!! Investigators' first prayers are the best thing ever. The only problem with him is that he plays soccer with his friends every Sunday and he doesn´t want to give it up cause he´s been doing it for like 20 years. But we are going to keep trying--yesterday we went to his house to get him for church anyway haha but he had already gone. But he is super good and we are going to get him baptized!!!!
So Enrique, the guy who went to Sweden, we haven´t heard from and he´s not answering his phone. Gabriel--the super good investigator, doesn´t answer our calls either and we are super sad. Story of our lives haha! But that´s okay!

So this week we contacted like crazy! We tried to talk to at least 50 people everyday! The first day we talked to 57 people and the 41st was the first one who listened to us haha. But that´s all right, we had a lot of fun anyway. It feels so good to talk to that many people and leave them with a card at least. But we got some numbers and addresses this week so hopefully those work out!

So Nelly, the woman we found from Bolivia who is a member, is amazing! We visit her every week and she is so strong. This week we watched the Restoration video with her and it was the best! She loved it so much. She told us about her life and she has been through some heart-wrenching things, and we just cried together. She told us how much she loves us coming and how grateful she is to have the Gospel back in her life. I feel as strongly about her as I do about Jose, who we baptized--it´s the same joy as a baptism because we brought her back to the Gospel! Well, the Lord did it all, we were just the hands and feet for it. But I love her so much, she is so sweet and I just love her family too!!!!

Rosalia, who we met in her bar, fed us this week. She is super sweet, but doesn´t want to listen to our messages or anything. Her daughter does though, and she´s super good. We are still trying to get her to church. But we will make it happen--we are bringing that family back no matter what it takes!!!!

So, Spanish is coming along!!! I´m realizing that my Spanish is a lot better than when I first got here haha. I used to find myself translating my thoughts into Spanish, but now I just find myself thinking in Spanish, so that's good! I can understand a lot better now, which helps a ton. I can say pretty much what I want to, but I'm still working on my grammar haha. Spanish pronunciation and vocab is a piece of cake, but man the grammar is wild! Subjunctive is a whole different way of speaking and it´s crazy! But I´m getting it down and I love it. The biggest thing I'm learning is how to have my personality in Spanish haha. But I´m learning how to tease people and have fun and express myself in Spanish and it´s so fun. I love it!!!!!!

Today was so so so fun!!! We went to Tibidabo--a really old castle with a cathedral inside that is on a hill overlooking all of Barcelona. It has a huge figure of Christ that you can see from all over the city! It´s amazing--the view was gorgeous!!!!! The elders brought food and we had a picnic at the top, right at the base of the statue´s feet with the prettiest view ever haha. It was so fun! Then we went to the beach--just looked out over the ocean and it´s so pretty I can barely stand it. I got really homesick for Balboa for a second when we were standing on the pier and smelling the sea air!!! Ah, it was so fun! I love Spain so so so much!!!!!!! Last preparation day we went to a huge mall and we went shopping with the elders. It was funny cause the European elders--our district leader from Austria, and two elders in our district from London-- knew everything about fashion, telling us what looks good on us and stuff. The American elders had no clue about anything of course haha. It was funny!

Well, life is really good here!! I´m learning that numbers are important here, but not everything. Sometimes it's kind of hard being in the same ward as the other 2 sets of elders, who baptize every week. But we are being super obedient, we are working as hard as we can, and we have a lot of faith--so the Lord is definitely blessing us with miracles. I´m learning that no effort goes wasted and that even if we aren't baptizing every week, we are still affecting people. Even today at Tibidabo we got talking to a man from Mexico and his wife and he said, "Oh wait, I was baptized into your church when I was younger!" He asked a ton about it and was super excited cause he had forgotten. Even little things like that make a huge difference in people´s lives. Hermana Tyler and I are doing more behind-the-scenes work--bringing lots of less actives back and strengthening ward members that need it, planting lots of seeds everywhere. It´s not the spotlight work that the elders have--baptizing all the time, but it´s wonderful. I have faith that the Lord has blessings in store for us every day and I´m so grateful for that. I love this Gospel so much! Every chance I have to bear my testimony is a huge blessing and I love it. I love every minute of this work, no matter how hard it is. I wouldn't be anywhere else!

I love you all so much it hurts! Thank you a thousand times over for your prayers and your love and your letters and support! I cant believe how lucky I am to have the best family in the world! I love you all so so so so much!!!!

Love, Hermana Boyer :)

PS: I´ve been kicking myself for not knowing more about all your missions because I was so young when they happened! Any stories, advice, regrets, anything you have- tell me! I would love to hear more about them and I've been thinking about them a lot!!!! I love you all!

PS again: I will try to send pictures but this computer I'm on is ancient so I don´t think it can haha. Also the keyboard is super trippy, so I´m sorry my spelling is the worst!

Email from Badalona

My beautiful family!!! How are you????? Happy Martin Luther King Day! I totally forgot about that holiday! So exciting. Yay for racial freedom :) How is everyone? So everyone´s freezing it up in Holladay and probably everywhere else too? I heard y'all went skiing- I'm SO jealous!! I miss it so much it´s unreal. But that´s okay!!!! I hope everyone´s birthdays were super fun too!!! Thank you so much for all the letters!!! I love hearing about your lives so much!!!! Thank you so so much for all your support--I am definitely the most spoiled missionary out there. Actually probably just the most spoiled little sister ever. But thank you SO MUCH!!!!!

This week was the fastest week I´ve had here because we were busy!! Yay!!!!!!!!! So on Tuesday we were calling all these people--references, people we contacted, etc. and usually they either don´t answer, or just tell us they don´t want to meet with us. But this time a whole bunch of people answered and we got a ton of citas!!! (appointments)!!! We were so excited!!!! So it turned out that a ton of them fired on us--they were either "at the doctor" at 9 at night- who does that? or they just didn´t answer or all these other things, BUT. . . . .we have 2 investigators now!!!!!! We are so so excited!!!!!

So one of them is named Gabriel and he´s a reference from the Elders. He´s from Ecuador and he´s the happiest man I think I´ve ever met. We taught him about the BOM this week and he was excited! He said he would read and everything. The only problem . . . he didn´t come to church. But that´s okay! The other one is named Enrique and he´s from Columbia. He is super spiritual and he´s really interested in our church. He´s super prepared! Only problem . . . he´s leaving tomorrow for Sweden and he doesn´t know when he´ll get back. But that´s okay! I will not give up on him!!! (I will highly likely be here for 3 more months, so I can keep track of these people and make sure they get baptized :) haha. But anyway, we are so excited!! Huge miracle!!!!! It felt so good to be busy!!!!!

So you were asking about Cesar--our drunkard friend. Ah, Cesar. We had citas with him twice this week, and both times he fired on us saying he was gone or working or something--but apparently he is still dying to meet with us he says. So ya. It´s dumb. But that´s okay. We know where he lives, so we basically stalk his house and it´s great.

The menos activo families that we found last week are good!!! Nelly--the one whose door we knocked and she´s golden--is SO good! She came to church and brought her granddaughter and she´s so comfortable! We gave her a lesson on Saturday and told her how wonderful she is and she was all teary. She is SO sweet, I can´t even tell you what a miracle she is.

The other family--who own the bar--are good. The young girl who was really interested isn´t answering her phone, so we don´t know what´s going on. But we are eating with them tonight, so we will figure it out! We visit the mom at her bar a lot though and she´s so sweet. We are just trying to get her trust so she´ll tell us why she´s so against the church right now.

So life is good!!!!! A bunch of you have asked about the ward--they are AMAZING! Our ward is famous in our mission for being so good. Our bishop is so gung-ho about missionary work and he knows exactly who our investigators are and where they are and everything. They are all so good. The retention in this ward is incredible because we are the highest baptizing ward in the mission, and we KEEP them all!!! This ward is SO good at taking care of all the recent converts and everything. Ah, I love this ward so much it´s unreal.
Okay a couple things about this week let´s see:

-I ate cerviche--which is octopus--and loved it!!! I know right? It was so good! I was so surprised. Now I eat chicken legs and steak without even blinking an eye. You can have this in writing--but I have been missing out all these years!!!! haha I can´t believe I´m saying this but it´s true. But I am becoming quite the carnivore and you will all die when I get home. So there. I said it.

-We were contacting and all the sudden had this HUGE thunderstorm come down!!! I heard the thunder and without thinking I looked around to count my girls haha. #Brightoncounselorforever

-We made a friend in a candy shop by us and we visit him a lot. He is a classic Catalan man--very nice, lots of opinions, very Catholic, and loves talking to us haha. We are going to convince him slowly and I´m excited for it!

-This guy from India hit on me on the Metro one night, followed us on to our stop, then followed us off and would NOT leave us alone! Hermana Tyler was so mad at him that she basically chewed him out and then grabbed me and we ran haha. One thing you should know--I stick out like the sorest thumb there ever was. Yesterday on the Metro there was a guy who DIDN¨T double take at us, and I was thanking him in my head cause he was the first man I´ve seen here that didn´t gawk at us. It´s weird. But that´s okay.

-I lost my voice cause I have quite the nasty cold (but don´t worry- nothing will keep me in piso, I am going to work no matter what haha). But I lost it on Friday and Saturday- when we had days full of citas. Nice try Satan! Haha. But it´s still gone and I sound like Anna on Christmas! :)

-This week there was the CUTEST dog that looked exactly like Zeke. We aren´t supposed to touch animals, but he came up to me on the Metro and put his head in my lap. I was trying to look away and pretend like I wasn´t dying inside. Finally I broke down and got on the ground and played with him and cooed at him like I do with Cokes and the whole metro was laughing. When we got off I apologized to Hermana Tyler, but she just laughed and said "it´s more like a guideline anyway."

I think that´s about all for this week! Life is good! Our mission is on fire--we learned this morning that there are 44 people with fechas--baptismal dates for this week!!!!!! That is UNREAL: last year the highest number in one week was 23. Our mission is on fire and I´m so grateful to be part of this work! It´s hard cause we don´t baptize every week like the elders do, but we are trying our hardest. Our work is a little more behind the scenes, strengthening people, and things like that. But I know that this is the Lord´s work and I love every minute of it, even the super frustrating ones. This Church is so true! The Gospel is what brings us joy in this life and I'm so grateful for the chance to share it, even in small ways. I love you all so so so much and can´t thank you enough for all you do for me! Have such a wonderful week!!!! ¡Les quiero muchísimo!!!!

Hermana Boyer :)

Pictures from Badalona

Okay, I feel so bad I forgot to mention Katie in the Happy Birthdays!!! Tell her Happy Birthday for me!!!! I hope so much that you all have wonderful birthdays! I love you all SO SO MUCH!!!!

This is me in front of the Sagrada Famila! Unfortunately, my camera was so overwhelmed with its beauty that it died for the first time in a year--so I don´t have any pictures from it haha. But I will have Hermana Tyler send me some :)

This is the view from the top of the Sagrada! I love my city!!

This is us lost in the mountains- it´s supposed to be an ugly face haha