April 18, 2013

April 18, 2013

I honestly can´t believe that i leave the MTC in just 11 days. What?! It has gone by WAY too fast! I don´t know if I´m quite ready to head out to the field but hey, I have to take a step of faith into the darkness before the lord can show me how wonderful this experience is going to be. I know it´s going to be hard – the hardest thing I´ve ever done – but it´s also going to bring the richest blessings and the greatest joy I´ve ever experienced up to this point in my life. I can´t wait to get out there.  Most of the sisters in my zone are going to Malaga but we have three sisters going to Madrid so we have to say goodbye to them when we leave.  It´s going to be SOOOO hard to say goodbye to those sisters - mainly my companion. It really stinks that we´re going to different mission. I can´t begin to explain how much I love this girl! You have no idea.  She is truly the greatest tender mercy I have received in the MTC. I am going to sob when I say goodbye to her. I´ve only cried once since saying goodbye at security in the airport but I already know that i´m going to completely lose it when I have to say goodbye to this amazing sister. It´ll be like saying goodbye to my family all over again. I´m just grateful that I still have 13 other amazing Hermanas coming to Malaga with me.

So my assignment was changed this last week. I am now a training sister. I guess it is an assignment that was recently created in the church due to the influx of missionaries. It is a sister zone leader. I also get to participate in a missionary council with the president, his wife, the zone leaders, and district leaders. Wow, it´s hard but it´s also such a blessing. 

The weather here is BEAUTIFUL!!!! It´s so sunny with a cool breeze! Imagine California weather along the beach. Yup! We´ve been so blessed! One of our favorite times of the day is 4-5pm. That´s when we get to go play soccer! Everyone here goes out to play! We play with Spaniards and Italians which is AWESOME! Holy smokes, they´re good! They just run circles around us Americans.  

Sooooo, president asked me to sing a solo on our last Sunday at a devotional for the entire MTC. Yeah, we´re gonna see how that goes. I´m just trying to figure out what to sing right now. Any ideas? I would need the sheet music for it though so keep that in mind.

Alright, funny story. About a week and a half ago we were proselyting in the park and later that night we had a testimony meeting on our experiences there.  One sister stands up and begins to talk about an experience she had talking to a nice man. They were able to give him a Book of Mormon and after he expressed interest in coming to church this sister then invited the man to church at 9am then next Sunday and gave him the address. As soon as she said that we all started laughing because…..it was conference weekend. We didn´t have church. This sweet man would have gone to an empty church building. Apparently someone found him later and explained that it was conference weekend. So hopefully he went the following week.

There´s no other joy greater than losing yourself in the work and letting the Lord find you.

Have an awesome week! trust in the savior and all will work out!

¨Come what may and love it¨

love,

Hermana Israelsen