TRAVELOGUE 🚌

🎶We're going on a trip in our favorite autobús, zooming down the street, little missionaries!
Climb aboard, get ready to be bored, zooming down the street, little missionaries!🎶

OK DID ANYONE SEE WHERE AUGUST WENT?? I THINK HE JUST RAN THAT WAY AND HE ROBBED ME OF TIME SO IF YOU SEE HIM CALL THE COPS. But really it's already practically September......HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?! Not ok.

Also warning: this is a long email. Sorry not sorry.

Anyway so this week was quite the adventure. Almost three full days we were out of our area because we were traveling to Málaga. Why? Well.....since about August 12th, Hermana Twede has been living in Spain a wee bit illegally so had to go redo her residency. But now I'm allowed to live here for another year so we good. So even though we were in buses almost all day on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, we still saw some miracles!!

On Wednesday we left and I asked in the prayer on our way out that we would have the opportunity to share the gospel with someone in camino for Malaga. Well we went the whole day without sharing anything. I knew I needed to do something but I was tired and used it as an excuse. Well, we passed through Granada, got some pizza to go, hopped back on the bus, and headed for Malaga. There were some new people on our bus and we were in the back with some of them. We could hear these two guys in the back speaking English so Hna Palmer looks behind us and asks where they are from. They were from Holland! Then there were also Italians behind us who spoke English as well. Well, we got in a conversation with them and the conversation went from their adventures in Spain, asking us on a date (that is a mission first), and then into the gospel. They asked more about what we believe and we had the opportunity to testify to them. Neither of them are very religious at all. One of them said, "You know I ask to know God is there. I say, "If you will just give me a sign that you are there, then I will believe."" Well that is a topic that has come up a lot in comp study lately and my mind instantly turned to Alma 32:17-18 that says:

17 Yea, there are many who do say: If thou wilt show unto us a sign from heaven, then we shall know of a surety; then we shall believe.
18 Now I ask, is this faith? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for if a man knoweth a thing he hath no cause to believe, for he knoweth it.

I was about to say something when Hna Palmer just goes, "Well that wouldn't be faith. He asks us to have faith that He exists." I was so proud. Then he asked if we've gotten an answer to our prayers and asked to share an experience. I just told him about the one that was happening right then, that we were having the opportunity to share the gospel with someone. We both had the opportunity to testify of a loving Heavenly Father who has a plan for them. It was cool. Don't know if it made a difference or them but it was cool to see how God answers our prayers.

We got to Malaga and got to spend the night with HERMANA PICKETT AND HERMANA MCKEOWN!! Hermana Pickett is my former comp from Elche so it was good to reminisce about the good old days in Palm Tree Ville. Hermana Mckeown is from my group and we haven't seen each other since our very first Zone Conference almost a year ago so it was good to see and talk to her. The next day we headed for Fuengirola and talked to a nice old man on the train, then some British people who were very kind and called us "lovely girls". Then I got to see my buddies in my group!! So good.

Another great thing that happened during traveling was we missed our bus from Malaga to Granada, meaning we would miss our bus from Granada to Murcia as well that night. Residency took longer than expected so Elder Moore changed our tickets and we got to stay in Granada for a night!! I had been wishing that that would get to happen when it was my turn to do residency. But when I found out that we'd be staying in Murcia instead I was ok. A little disappointed but it was fine. So when Elder Moore told us we wouldn't make our bus and we would be staying in Granada, I was soooo excited. I didn't expect to be able to see any of the people I visited there because we'd be getting in around 9:30 but it was enough for me to just be there. Well, another miracle happened and we got in at 8:30 to the bus station and to the Hnas piso by 9. When we got there, Hna Matsu opened the door and said, "Ok put your stuff down in the room and then let's go. We're going to go see Maria Guzman. I told her we had a surprise for her." Maria Guzman is like my little Spanish abuela of Granada. We went to her house every single Sunday and taught her and a menos activa. I was sooo excited. I didn't know if she would recognize me because it had been so much time, but she opened the door and gasps and says, "Oh hermana!! No lo puedo creer!! ¿Cómo?" She was so happy and so was I. I remember being at her house my very first Sunday in the field and having the worst stomachache and her just telling me to go home and rest. She always helped me with my Spanish and always made me feel loved. It was such a blessing to be able to see her. And she was leaving for the temple the next day!! So good to see her doing those things. Such a miracle and helped me to really realize that Heavenly Father cares about the little things we care about. I had a desire to go but wasn't expecting it and He gave me that opportunity. I was sooooo grateful. So lots of answers to prayers were seen on that trip.

Maria Guzman! Mi Abuela de Granada!

By the time we finally got home on Friday, we were zombies. Did studying, went to correlación then visited a menos activa and ate until we died (almost literally). Saturday was weekly planning and visiting some peeps. Sunday was so good. I LOVE THIS WARD!! I love who I'm serving with and the people we are serving. It's been such a blessing to have had this opportunity to serve here in Cartagena these past four months.

Ok so I know this email is already really long and most have stopped reading by now but I just want to share something I learned this week from a talk that the wonderful Hermana Clark sent me last week. It's called The Perfect Lie and it's about how Satan tells us that in order to become like Christ, or to feel satisfaction in our lives, we need to do more and to be more. LIES!! This lady explains it like this: "In my efforts to be like Christ, I lived by this math equation: Me + More = Christlike. If I’m more patient, more forgiving, more loving, more charitable, more prayerful (and the list could go on and on), I can be like Christ. Christlike is the goal. Sounds good, right? Except it’s not. It’s the perfect lie. It’s Satan’s equation that he dupes us into living...Nowhere in the scriptures does Christ say that our efforts are inadequate. Never does He say, “If you don’t work hard enough, you’ll never be enough.”
No. His truth and His invitation is “Come unto me, for my grace is sufficient.”
Christ’s truth, I discovered, is more like this equation:
 Me +  Christ = More."

I've started living by this equation. When Satan gets into my head (he does it a lot....rude) and tells me that for me to be successful, for me to go home with no regrets, to feel satisfied with myself, my life, everything.....I need to BE MORE....I've begun thinking of this equation. Instead of telling myself to do/be more, I instead strive to add Christ to my equation. I strive to work as a team with my Savior because I know without Him, I can't do it.

I know my Savior lives and loves me. And know that there is a simple way to walk through this life and it's along side our Savior Jesus Christ. I encourage you all to put Christ back into His proper place in your life. It will change your life. I know because He has changed mine.
Me + Christ = More.

Love you all, have a great week.

Kia Kaha.

Hermana Twede

It's too bad when your comp locks you out of the house....jejejejejeje.

La Manga at night...looked cooler in person.

This is what happens when you pass by a reference that the elders gave you from their area annnnndddd.....
if you look in the distance, you can see two goons in white shirts.