words and wanderlusts: My Birthday, Miracles, and GIBRALTAR!

OKAY, sorry for the wait folks! But finally you have my double email for this and last week! A lot has happened and there are a lot of photos coming your way!

LAST WEEK´S PORTION:

Well I am now 22 years old people! Can you believe that? I sure can´t. It sounds pretty dang old to me but I will have to live with it now. I guess it´s not so bad. My comps decorated a bit for my bday and gave me some small gifts. That day we ate with Juani a member who feeds us a TON but she´s the best. (but seriously you can´t walk after eating at her place). All the appointments basically fell through that day but oh well haha. And like a good and true American I treated myself by buying root beer, chocolate cake mix, and pancake mix from the American shop here! wooohooo! So I made us all pancakes and my own cake for my bday haha :) And we went to this really cool tapas place where it´s like a buffet of small appetizers

On Friday we went to the branch of San Lucar to do a "cosecha" or harvest with the other missionaries. We all went on splits with members and contacted in the streets to try and help move the work along there. It was fun, my comp and I didn´t have much success at least, but they they got contacts out of it and there was a lot of support from the members.

On Saturday we had the coolest lesson ever with Isi! It started out with her asking us A TON about Book of Mormon history (let´s be honest, I didn´t even remember all of the answers to her questions...I have forgotten a lot of details on the mission haha) and the lineage of all the prophets. Then we talked about the spirit and receiving answers. Anddd then she said something that surprised us all! She said that the law of chastity hadn´t been a problem for her the last two weeks and her and his desires have changed! I was stunned. It was a specific answer to our specific prayers. She was talking about her baptism again and we set a date. She said that an overwhelming feeling comes over her when she thinks about baptism, it´s almost paralyzing. She is nervous but in a good way. The elders gave her a blessing and she described in detail what she felt- smoke that filled her mind, went throughout all her body, went back up, left her head and all she felt was a warm happy feeling left over. Cool huh? I´ve never heard anyone describe it like that. She is progressing really well. She whipped out her old baptismal calendar from the beginning and it was all marked up with stickers and tons of details. She is truly something else.

Sunday we had a Music and the Spoken Word type of fireside and sand Savior Redeemer of My Soul. Others sang and played piano and violin. Isi read the scriptures for us :)

OH AND MARICARMEN GOT BAPTIZED ON WEDNESDAY! If you remember she is Juan´s wife from Murcia and he got to baptize her :) it´s such a miracle. She is going the the other ward´s sacrament meeting and in the meantime hopefully she will change her job!

THIS WEEK´S PORTION

So Monday we went to Gibraltar and it was definitely worth it. A member took us up in his van with the elders and also the Hnas from San Fernando. We officially left Spain and entered into British territory! It was weird. Everyone spoke both English and Spanish fluently and it had lots of little shops from England with British products :) We took a cable car lift thingy up to the top of the rock to see the gorgeous view and monkeys. And the funniest thing of the day happened. Hna Fumero had her back to one of the monkeys on the rail and since her backpack was open it hopped on her back and she started screaming and crying and ripped the bag off. Everyone on the planet was watching and laughing. The rest of the day she held her bag around the front and freaked out every time she saw a monkey. It was hilarious and made the whole trip worth it (for us at least hahaha).

Friday we went to Chiclana to help with a girl´s camp activity. Half of the sister missionaries went on splits to contact in the streets and Hna Fumero and I went to and elderly home to talk with them and write mini bio´s in handmade journals. That night one of our plans fell through and so we stopped by an inactive family that had recently moved and the bishop had been able to talk to on the street. Normally when we do this they either aren´t home or don´t want anything to do with the church. The mother, Angelita, opened up, and first said she didn´t have time but after talking a bit let us in. She began to talk about how she completely regrets leaving the church over small thing and that she feels in her chest this great feeling of sadness and longing to come back. She had been reading the bible the day before and thinking about it and said that it was a miracle that we came the day after. Her husband later came in along with her sons and other family members. Her youngest son, Javier, was extremely nice. He had been sealed in the temple at one time and everything and also regrets what happened. They both gave really sincere and beautiful repentative (is that right?) prayers and invited us to come back and eat this Tuesday. I LOVE MIRACLES! They are the best.

This week we have also been contacted by three homeless people, 2 members and one investigators. One´s name is Jose and since he is sincere, we are trying to help him repent, quit drinking, and turn his life around. We will see what happens! Today we went bike riding with a lot of other missionaries to the two castles. We are now a combined district with San Fernando.

Love you all!

Hermana Thompson

photos- Gibraltar!