Here's Lara's latest email, a little shorter because we got to talk with her via Skype on Mother's Day. :)
And I successfully figured out how to post pictures. Victory! Here she is with her trainer, working on a service project sewing pillows for a children's hospital, and with the sisters in her Spain MTC district.
She is really loving the people there in Madrid, and says she feels a lot of love and support especially from the members. One of them so kindly allowed her to skype us from their home last night! :)
Trying to get an idea of what Lara is "seeing" each day, I tried to find pictures of Torrejon on the web that I could post, but have been unsuccessful so far. We did use google map to get a street view from parts of the city, and also checked out tripadvisor. There is a "Parque Europa" there, with models of the Eiffel Tower, Tower Bridge in London, the Trevi Fountain in Rome, and the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin among other things.
Now, on to her email......
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¡Hola todos! ¿Que tal?
It was fabulous to see and talk with the familia last night. You all looked great and Jared even looked buff. Maybe he is finally starting to gain a little weight.
This week has been crazy. A lot of disappointments. But I am not in the least discouraged. I´m noticing a lot of my weaknesses, though, and having to correct them. In the Provo MTC we were sitting next to two teachers at lunch and I heard them discussing the scripture Ether 12:27. "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto the children of men weakness that they may be humble, and my grace is sufficient for all my who humble themselves before me, for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then I will make weak things become strong unto them." (Sorry if that´s not exactly right, I'm translating it from Spanish/relying on my memory.) The teacher pointed out that seeing our weaknesses and realizing our flaws is a sign that we are coming unto the Lord. So the more flawed and weak and humble we feel, as far as our own abilities, the closer we are to the Lord and the more worthy we are to ask for and accept His help.
We got to go on Tuesday to Campo Real, which is a little pueblito out in the middle of nowhere. It is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. All the houses have red tile roofs, and the town is built on a hill, and there are cobblestone streets that slope and curve down the hillside. I love it so much. I think we´re going back tomorrow. The only downside is that we have to ride a bus for 45 minutes up and down the hilly countryside to get there. Not too fun.
We have 5 new investigators this week. One is a friend of a YW in the ward, and he came to church last Sunday. He´s 16 years old and his family is affiliated with all different churches (Catholic, Evangelist, Jehovah's Witnesses) and he´s tried all of them, searching for the truth--just like Joseph Smith! He is really interested in religion and believes very firmly in God and wants to know how to be closest to Him. The only problem is that his parents might not be so keen on him getting baptized.
Our other new investigators are all very religious and were pretty accepting of the message of the Restoration. The problem with ALL FOUR OF THEM is that they´re living with someone to whom they aren´t married. NO ONE in Spain is married except the members of the church, pretty much, which is so sad to me. Two of them are a couple that´s investigating together, and I have absolute faith that as they come to gain a testimony of the gospel, they will have the desire to get married so they can be baptized! With the others we would love to get their parejas (this word doesn´t exist in English...it means your co-habitating significant other) to come to lessons with us as well, but everyone here has crazy work schedules and it´s really hard to teach both at the same time.
So, that´s the noticias from Spain! I love it here and I love being a missionary. I´m so excited to see how much I will continue to grow and become a disciple of Christ so that I will stay converted for the rest of my life.
LOVE YOU ALL!
Con cariño,
Hermana Lara Schaumann
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Her email reminded me to re-evaluate "stumbling blocks." I just re-listened to Steven Snow's "Stepping Stones and Stumbling Blocks" from BYU Devotional of Sept. 11, 2012. Great!
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