All Good Things Come With Time and Effort – October 28, 2013

This last week was phenomenal!! We found more people who have been carefully prepared to receive the gospel and we´re so happy!

In the last 2 and a half weeks we have found 19 people to teach! I can´t begin to explain how much of a heaven sent miracle that is. The Lord needed to try our faith to see if we would indeed be faithful in all things before he could trust us with some of these elect children. After 6 weeks of finding absolutely no one and coming home absolutely exhausted every single day the Lord has finally decided that we can be trusted and is leading us to people who are ready for the gospel!

We have found someone new to teach almost every single day for the past week or two! It´s incredible! I can´t begin to describe what joy it brings me! It´s still hard out here. People still yell at us every day and tell us what a waste of space we are but I could care less because we´re bringing people to Christ! Things are finally coming together here. I know it has to do a lot with all of the prayers from home. Thank you to each and every one of you who has kept my companion and I in your prayers. You are playing a huge part in the work of the Lord over here in Spain. Without your prayers I don´t know if we would be finding as many people to teach. Thank you! 

So earlier my companion and I were planning a Halloween party for our branch. After talking about Halloween for so long it´s only natural that you have the urge to scare someone. So that´s what we spent the night doing - scaring each other. My Companion hid in our shower that night and just about gave me a heart attack. I vowed to get revenge on her and she just laughed thinking nothing of it.

The next night, night while she was brushing her teeth I set up my bed so it looked like I was already asleep in it. I put pillows and towels under the sheets to make it look like I was in it. So she finishes brushing her teeth, comes into our room, says her prayers, and turns out the light thinking that I’m already asleep. What she didn´t know is that I was in the closet. I waited for about 5 minutes in the closet and then began to tap on the door. I continued to scratch and tap the closet door until she sat up and said ¨what is going on?!?!¨ She flipped on the lights really quickly to see what was happening but found nothing wrong. Thinking I was still asleep she turned the lights back off and tried to go back to bed. Again, I began to scratch and tap the door until she tried to wake me up, or wake up what she thought was me. She screamed when she realized that I wasn´t under the covers and then screamed again when I threw open the closet and asked her why she was still up. We both fell to the floor laughing! We stayed up WAY too late that night laughing. Man, I love this companionship! 

My sweet companion sprained her ankle this morning so we´ve been working on getting that fixed. It´s just lucky that I’m going into physical therapy for my career. I´ve worked with quite a lot of sprained ankles so it´s not a problem at all. We´ve got her all bandaged up and good to go.

Over the past 7 months I’ve learned a LOT. One of the things that has been carved into my heart is that all good things come with time and effort. I truly know that now.  Things are going great! I love this work with all of my heart, mind, and soul!

Come what may and love it!!!! 

Hermana Israelsen

A GREAT AND A MARVELOUS WORK – October 21, 2013

Random little notes. I just realized this last week that somehow my residency got messed up here and instead of only being a resident until next year I will be a resident of Spain until 2018! SWEET! Looks like I’ll be staying here a little longer than I thought. Just kidding.

 

Another side note. The only thing about being in a branch rather than a ward is that there aren´t as many people to help out with stuff.  It gives me more opportunities to serve and get to know the members. I love my branch!

Well, now to the bulk of the email. This week was full of miracles and learning. Last Monday I hit rock bottom. I was so discouraged and frustrated with myself. I was frustrated that the area wasn´t progressing, that the language wasn´t as good as I want it to be, and that I just wasn´t as good as I thought the lord wanted me to be. All of my weaknesses seemed to be amplified and I couldn´t help but feel like a huge failure. I fell to my knees in prayer and pleaded to my Father in Heaven to help me know that he still loved me. I talked to him for almost an hour in prayer and did not stop praying until my sorrows and frustrations were replaced with peace and understanding. As I was praying to my Father in Heaven, I began to recognize all of the things I had already overcome. I was filled with a peace and comfort that I can´t quite put into words. Somehow I knew, deep within my being, that the lord was proud of me. That he was happy with my desires to serve him and become better. I´m not perfect, nor will I ever be perfect in this life but the Lord is still pleased with my little efforts each day in which I try to become more like Him. In that moment when I thought that I had completely failed everyone and that I wasn´t a good missionary, the atonement stepped in. I had a very personal moment with my Heavenly Father in which I came to know that I’m not done learning. There´s still so much more that I have to learn and overcome here and I’m not leaving until I do so. The Lord has so much in store for each and every one of us. He loves us. Even when we don´t deserve it. 

The work is progressing here! Miracles are happening and the Lord is leading us to his elect! This last week we found 2 more families to teach and another woman who has been so carefully prepared by the Lord! Our efforts and prayers over the last 7 weeks are starting to be answered. We´re finding people who are ready for the fullness of the gospel of our Savior, Jesus Christ. This work is so much bigger than me. I am seeing the great and marvelous work of the Lord come forth. 

This week has been a big week of reflection for me. I´ve been thinking about my family a lot and how I’m so blessed to be able to be with them for eternity thanks to the covenants we have made in the temple. Not only do I get to be with my family for eternity but I’m here to help others do the same.

The definition of a missionary: someone who leaves their family for a short time so that others can be with their families for eternity. That´s why I’m here. I´m here to bring others to the knowledge of their Savior and help them live in the presence of their Heavenly Father with their families forever. I love this work and I love the Lord!

Try a little harder to be a little better and come what may and love it!

Love,

Hermana Israelsen

TRY A LITTLE HARDER TO BE A LITTLE BETTER – October 14, 2013

After an awesome week last week I guess it´s only natural that Satan wanted to try to tear us down before we could get this place going. This last week was probably the longest week of the mission so far. We had a lot of laughs and saw plenty of tender mercies each day but it was still a very long week. We ended up knocking on doors and talking with people in the streets all day, every day this week because no one was able to meet with us.  It´s all a part of the experience. Tough days can either make us bitter or better and I´m really trying to become better from the tough weeks. It´s a work in progress. Haha. We did see some tender mercies though so it wasn´t a bad week...just a long one. haha.

Some great news. One of our investigators from Elche who we had been working with to get her baptized right before I left was just baptized last week! I almost cried when I found out! AH! I’m so happy for her!

One thing that kept going through my mind this week is the phrase by President Hinckley “try a little harder, to be a little better¨. I´ve tried to make that my motto this week because that´s what the Lord asks of us. He doesn´t expect us to be perfect tomorrow. All that he asks is that you try a little bit harder to become a little more like him. But if I can look back at the day and say that I tried just a little bit harder to improve myself than I know that the Lord is proud of me.

I´m so incredibly grateful for the opportunity I have to be here. No matter how long or difficult the day was I can lie down in my bed with a heart full of gratitude for the experiences of the day because each one brings me a little closer to my savior. How lucky are we to have the atonement in our lives. Through it we can start each day brand new. We can try again each day to become a little more like the Savior.

One important thing to remember though is that we´re not perfect and the Lord doesn´t expect us to be perfect but he does expect us to try our very best. We repent and try again. So with all of that said that´s my new motto:  try a little harder each day to be a little better than I was the day before. Little by little.

I´m incredibly happy representing the Savior and talking to everyone I meet about my Savior. I love my Savior and I love the gospel. That´s why I’m doing what I’m doing. I want to be an instrument in His hands. Love you all! 

Hermana Israelsen

One of the beautiful streets here. Old fashioned Spain

Beautiful  Spain

Fear Not, Only Believe - October 7, 2013

Thank you everyone for all of the birthday wishes! My birthday was seriously amazing! I had such a good day! First off, we got to watch the General Relief Society session which was incredible! We then found a new family to teach! It was a complete miracle! We were knocking on doors, a woman answered and said that she was too busy for us. We felt very strongly that we needed to stay there so we started teaching her right there through her doorway. After a few minutes she invited us in and we began to teach her. She was so receptive to everything we taught and had been prepared by the Lord to receive His message. She has three kids and a husband so she asked us to return to teach them too. We were so incredibly excited! I couldn´t have asked for a better birthday gift!

After that we went to a few more appointments and taught our English class. Our English class is finally starting to fill up!!! It´s a complete miracle! One cool story. The other night my companion and I were walking down the street talking when a kid ran up to us and asked us what language we were speaking in. I said English and he got super excited! He then began to rattle off the little phrases in English he knew and before we knew it his older brother came over to talk to us too. We told them both about our English classes and they were so excited! We were talking with them when all of the sudden a guy rides by on his bike, hears us teaching them a little English, and immediately stops. He comes over and starts to talk to us in English. We were so shocked! It turns out that he studied English for a year or two and has been looking for ways to practice his English so that he could get a job in England but hasn´t been able to find any that he can afford. After a super funny discussion with them they all told us that they´d come to our English classes and bring all of their friends. Well, guess what? They all came and even brought their friends! It was awesome! COMPLETE miracle! The Lord literally placed them directly in our path.

After English class we traveled over to a member´s home to have a noche de hogar (family home evening) but it turns out that it was all a ploy and that they were throwing a surprise party for me with the whole branch! It was the nicest thing ever!!!! Don´t worry we still got to have a noche de hogar and teach some lessons. I love my branch sooooooo much! They all have a special place in my heart even though there aren´t that many of them.

Conference was AMAZING!!! We listened to all of the sessions in Spanish which was actually really cool! I finally feel ok with the language because I was able to understand all of the talks without much of a problem. POR FIN (at last!!) Conference never fails to humble me out and bring me to my knees at the feet of my Savior. WHY IS CONFERENCE SO COOL?!?!?!

This week was by far the best week that we´ve had here! Truly full of miracles! We found an additional family to teach this week so if you´re counting we found two full families to teach this week!!! WE FINALLY HAVE PEOPLE TO TEACH!!!! hahahahahah! We couldn´t be more excited! We put forth every effort we had to find people to teach this week and the Lord answered us ten-fold. We entered this week with a lot of fasting and prayer in order to be able to find someone to teach. We worked morning to night to find the elect and bring them to the Savior. We even gave up lunch time some days to keep looking (don´t worry we still took a few minutes to eat!). We put forth every effort and energy that we had and the Lord answered our prayers. We saw miracle after miracle this week! I love it here! It´s hard and there still isn´t a whole lot of work going on but we´re talking to everyone we can and taking every opportunity to serve that we see. The best thing that we can do here is act as the Savior´s hands and do as He would do, say what He would say, and love as He would love. That´s all I want to do! Be an instrument in the hands of my Lord and Savior.

So the lessons I learned this week are: If we but move forward with faith the Lord will provide miracles, that fear and doubt are the opposite of faith, and that through God all things are possible. Miracles come AFTER the trial of our faith. First comes the faith and then comes the miracles. I love this work and I love my Savior!

Fear not, only believe!

Hermana Israelsen

SMILE and Trust the Lord - September 30, 2013

This week was awesome! No, we didn´t find anyone that was interested in the gospel but that doesn´t mean that we didn´t have fun and see miracles. One awesome thing about this week is that we had a conference in Malaga and I finally got to see some of my MTC hermanas! I never realized what incredible relationships I would develop with the other missionaries out here.  These hermanas have become some of my very best friends in the entire world. I really am so grateful to all of them!

As for the work here. Well, we´re trying. We´ve been fasting and praying so I know that we´ll see a change soon. We´ve got some big plans that we´re going to try out this week so we hope that the Lord will make up for what we lack. I´m sure we´ll have great news to tell you all next week! I’m sure of it!

The weather here is always a surprise. At the beginning of the week it was blazing hot and then overnight it turned bitter cold, started raining, and hasn´t stopped raining since. Today it was raining again but it was also incredibly windy. We were walking down the street and I almost had to decide between keeping my umbrella from being ripped out of my hands or keeping my skirt down... #sister missionary problems.

Some great news for the week is that I just found out that some of my investigators that my companion and I found Elche are getting baptized! That made me so incredibly happy! Yeah, I’m not there for the actual baptism but they´re getting baptized! Best news ever!

Other good news. Some people finally showed up to our free English classes! Almost every area in the mission gives free English classes, including ours, but no one was coming. Not a single person, so we have been handing out flyers like it´s nobody´s business. We finally had a few students come! That was really fun to teach an English class again!

I literally cannot wait for conference this weekend! I´ve been counting down the days since July. I have a lot of questions that I´ve been praying and fasting about and I have no doubt that the Lord will answer them this weekend. He´s done it many times before for me and I know that he´ll do it again.

My comp and I have had a lot of fun together this week. We weren´t able to find anyone interested in the gospel this week so we had to do something to keep from getting discouraged. So what did we do? We made up a lot of games. We  actually made up a game last night that we had so much fun with. We stayed up way too late laughing! We made up this game where you turn off the lights and one of you makes some kind of pose. The other person then has 20 questions that they can ask to try to figure out what position they are in. After 20 questions they have to try to do the same pose and then the lights go on. Haha. It´s absolutely hysterical cause you´re usually super wrong! I think it might have just been all of the stress leaving but we laughed way too hard about it! hahaha I literally think it´s one of my favorite games out in the field.  My comp and I are super stoked to play it again tonight before we go to bed.

So as you can see, the work is still hard but we are finding the joy in the journey. Each day has its own challenges but when we have the gospel in our lives and the Savior at our side we don´t have need to fear. With God nothing is impossible. Challenges will come, that´s life, but it´s how we react to them that determines who we can become. Challenges can either make us bitter or better. We get to choose. It´s so important that we ¨endure to the end¨ but I think more importantly our Father in Heaven wants us not only to endure but to ¨enjoy to the end¨. Don´t forget to find the joy in the journey. No matter what comes your way remember to smile and trust in the lord. It´ll all be ok.

Love you all!  Come what may and love it!

Hermana Israelsen