On Monday night I left
mi querida compañera hermana matsu and hopped on a train to Sevilla, where I
stayed the night with some Hermanas there. Then on Tuesday morning we went the
rest of the way to Málaga. It was super weird to get to the train station there
because I'd spent so much time in Vialia during my first three transfers! We
went to the mission office for a meeting with all the trainers, then went to
the mission home to meet our new companions! We had to hide out for a while on
this patio area below the house while the office elders shuttled everyone from
the office to the mission home, then we went into President Andersen's office
and had a meeting with him, and then we finally got to meet our new companions!
My companion is named Hermana Moncayo. She's from Ecuador but has lived in
Madrid for the past 10 years. She's 21 and a convert to the church of 3 years
and she is AWESOME! She loved going out and teaching with the missionaries in
Madrid, so she already knows how to teach lessons. Actually, she started
teaching lessons before she was even baptized because she had to wait until she
was 18 to get baptized and the missionaries had run out of things to teach her
so she started teaching them! I AM NOT EVEN TRAINING HER! And she has such a
strong testimony and is such a sweet, loving person. Plus her accent is easy to
understand (and she tells me the accent here is hard for even HER to
understand, so that makes me feel better about still not understanding the
people here sometimes haha). Anyway, basically she is the cutest person and I'm
so excited to be with her for a while! She speaks a little English and
understands a lot, but we always speak spanish.
On Tuesday night we
spent the night at the mission home with the 10 other new hermanas and their companions!
It was really fun. I didn't get to go to the mission home when I came into the
mission, so it was fun to finally get to see it. It's beautiful!
On Wednesday afternoon
we headed to Puerto. It was a long train ride, but it was a good chance to get
to know each other better and also sleep a little haha.
On Thursday we did
weekly planning, then taught our investigator Isabel! Her piso is normally
super loud and crazy so it's hard to have a spiritual lesson, but we walked in
and it was so quiet we could hear the clock ticking. Milagros! We had a really
good lesson with her. Her husband is still recovering from his kidney surgery,
but when he's better she is really hoping she can get baptized. We will see how
things go with her!
On Friday we got to
teach Andrés. He is so funny and so old. But he loves reading the Book of
Mormon and takes his prayers so seriously that he actually writes out what he
wants to say beforehand, just so he doesn't forget anything. It's like a little
letter to Heavenly Father, it's super cute. On Friday night we were able to
watch President Monson's funeral. I loved the talk that his daughter gave,
about how he was always just trying to serve others and be loving to everyone.
Although we in no way worship the prophets of the church, we do look up to them
as really great role models and I hope that I can develop that same love for
others that President Monson had.
Saturday was a day of
finding. We knocked a lot of doors and talked to a few people who would be
interested in having us come over another day. We also went to eat with brother
and sister Fry, which was fun. Sister Fry speaks Spanish okay and Brother Fry
really doesn't speak at all, but between my Spanish and English, Sister Fry's
Spanish and Hermana Moncayo's English, we actually had a really fun time! We
ate tacos. Then that afternoon we went to visit a less-active member! She was
super friendly and a little upset that the missionaries hadn't visited her in
so long, but she really wants us to come back again so we will! Then on
Saturday night we played fútbol as usual, except it started to rain (actually
it was raining off and on all day) so we had to cut it short.
Sunday we basically
were in the church all day--that happens when you go to two sacrament meetings,
then an hour of Sunday School, an hour of primary (they needed music people),
and then a couple hours of meetings with ward leaders and the bishop. Sometimes
it's a little annoying to have to be in so many meetings, but everything works
better when we're all coordinated so I understand why we have them.
Another thing about
Hermana Moncayo, would you believe me if I told you that not only one, but now
TWO of my companions love to cook and want to be chefs? I WIN THE COMPANION
GAME! We will be eating well this transfer.
This has been a week
of lots of change and this coming week will be too because on Wednesday we are
getting SMARTPHONES! We are also going to get Facebook, messenger, and
WhatsApp. It's always a little scary to go through changes but overall we're
excited. On Facebook we will be using it to communicate with people here in
Spain and not so much as a way to talk with family and friends, so if you send
me a message or comment on something and I don't respond, don't feel bad. I
still like you and will respond in like 11 months haha. I think we all have
kind of mixed feelings about the technology, but one thing that's really cool
is that the missionaries in the Madrid mission, where Hermana Moncayo is from,
have had these things for 5 or 6 months now. And so she's seen how missionaries
can use technology to help in the work and how good it is!
My Spanish is weird.
In high school we learned more Mexican-type Spanish, then I came to Spain and
learned Spain Spanish, but then with Hermana Encarnación I started learning
Dominican Spanish and now I'm with an Ecuatorian so that's just another flavor
added to the Spanish cake. I learned the word pachanga this week, which is
fiesta (party) but way more fun to say! You can also turn it into a verb. It's
definitely the word of the week, and hermana Moncayo and I will be pachangando
all transfer!
Hope you all have a
good week!
Love, Hermana Walker
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