The Second Law of Thermodynamics and the Atonement

As finals week is winding down (well...sort of...) I wanted to share some things I've learned this semester.  It's been one of the hardest semesters of my life.  Just in case any of you were wondering, trying to pass differential equations and physical chemistry after not doing any math or chemistry for more than a year and a half is not very easy.  I've been stretched, pushed, and pulled all over the place.
Here's a little rundown of my learning:


1. There is no reason not to be happy with where you are, who you are, and how you are. If you can't be happy now, when will you ever be?

2. Let go of the things you can't control. God knows what He's doing, and everything will work out in His time.

3. Never stop striving toward something.  Set little, simple goals and fight for them.

4. Be vulnerable. Open yourself up and let others see you as you really are.  Vulnerability is the hardest thing but also the biggest blessing.

5. Always put others before yourself.  Turn outward.  That is the ultimate key to happiness, and the ultimate challenge of this life.


And now a little story.  I am blessed to attend a university where we can discuss religion openly and freely.  So on the last day of physical chemistry, the professor gave a lecture relating everything we had learned to the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We talked about a talk by Hugh Nibley explaining how the Atonement counteracts entropy--the ultimate fate of the universe, according to the Second Law of Thermodynamics, is to break down completely, but the Atonement renews, resurrects, and restores, offering a "greater sacrifice" to overcome the effects of entropy.  We also applied this to our individual selves: in our own lives, the Spirit is that anti-entropy agent.  If we become an "isolated system" (if we close ourselves off to others and to the Spirit) we are doomed to break down spiritually and emotionally.  But if we open ourselves, to the Spirit and to the service of others, we will be renewed and that natural process of disintegration will be stopped.
As my professor spoke, I felt in my heart that what he was saying was true.  I have struggled my way through that class, and I still don't perfectly understand a lot of the concepts we have learned.  But as we learned about the Atonement that day, a thought came clearly and powerfully into my mind.  "It doesn't matter how well you understand physical chemistry and thermodynamics and all of that--you are striving to perfectly understand the Atonement, and that is ultimately all that matters."


6. The best knowledge we can hope to attain in this life is a knowledge of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and His infinite Atonement.

Merry Christmas all!

Stepping Stones

Whoops.  I changed the URL for probably the 8th time since I made this blog.
(To be fair, it was kind of necessary this time.)

So this new URL comes from one of my very favorite talks by Neal A Maxwell, entitled "Consecrate Thy Performance".  He says,

"Spiritual submissiveness [or patience, or charity, or any other Christlike virtue] is not accomplished in an instant, but by the incremental improvements and by the successive use of stepping-stones.  Stepping-stones are meant to be taken one at a time anyway." 

This quote is extremely inspiring and comforting to me.  As I striving disciple of Jesus Christ, I see so clearly what I ought to be and do.  I have Christ's perfect example constantly before me, devoid of any flaw whatsoever.  And sometimes when we look at that, being my flawed self, it feels so overwhelming to think that I'm supposed to become like that.

What I understand Elder Maxwell as saying is that we constantly need to be progressing and working towards that goal of ultimate perfection, but there's no need to freak out if it doesn't happen overnight.  I love the idea of stepping stones, of picking one weakness at a time to conquer before taking a step forward to the next one.

And that's what I plan to chronicle here: my progress, day by day, one flaw at a time, to try to eventually become like my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, whom I love with all my heart and soul. And I know it's thanks to His perfect and infinite Atonement that I can eventually become perfect, as He is.

So here's to my journey, one stepping stone at a time. Gracias a Él. 

El mito del sacrificio...

So in my last Zone Conference President Jackson read an anonymous letter that a missionary who served in Spain sent to the First Presidency.  It states everything I've ever felt or thought about the mission perfectly.

So here.

“I was reflecting yesterday if I would call the mission a sacrifice. And for everything it seems I might have sacrificed, I feel like I have been given tenfold. If I say I have sacrificed time with my family, then I must realize that I have been rewarded with a family more united and loving than ever. If the mission has been a sacrifice of time, I have been rewarded with knowledge that no university in the world could have taught me. If it has been a sacrifice of my talents, I have been rewarded with more than I ever had before. I can speak Spanish, I care more genuinely about people, [and] I am less quick to judge and more anxious to serve. If it has been a sacrifice of human relationships, I have been rewarded with practice in speaking to men and women from all walks of life and in diverse situations. If I have sacrificed my earthly possessions, I have been given new ones that I value infinitely more. For anything I have sacrificed I have been given more.”

Amen.

No soy quien era.

So hi there.
I'm actually back. Physical, actual me is physically typing these actual words on my wonderful old laptop.
And I have no idea how to put into words what I'm feeling right now.

This is the hardest and most painful thing I have ever done. It hurts all day, every day. I ache for Spain and its people constantly. I think about them all the time. I loved them so much, with everything I have and am, every minute of every day for 18 months.

And then the Lord asked me to leave them.

And because I love Him, I obeyed.

It took everything in me to get on that plane and come home, not knowing when I would ever see them again. But I had to trust Him, and trust that He has something even better planned for me.

Right now I'm not sure exactly what that something is. I'm back in school, I'm trying to learn how not to be a social idiot, I'm working, and it's good. I've learned things about myself and God's plan for me since I came back that are so powerful and so profound.

But I miss it so much.  I miss the hills, the absurd amount of seafood, the drunk guys that shout at you in the street, the trash strikes, the 10000000 people who swore they were going to come to church and then didn't come, the vigorous but off-tune singing of those amazing Spanish Saints. I miss the miracles of every single day, the moment when someone's eyes light up because they finally understand it, I miss the laughter, the love, the smiles.  I miss feeling the Spirit so strongly that it seems the room will set itself on fire.  I miss seeing so many different people change because of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I miss being able to give my everything to Him, completely and without reserve.

The thing that I've always known and yet had to learn to understand is that He didn't mean for me to go on living like that forever. That was never the plan.  He meant for me to learn and change and then to go back and apply such learning to the "real world."

So that is where I stand.
I am a changed being.
I know how to work, how to laugh, how to cry, and how to love.
I know how to sacrifice, how to give literally everything I am and have to my Savior and Redeemer.
I know what the Atonement of Jesus Christ is.
I understand that it fulfills my every need, soothes my every sorrow, smoothes away my every weakness, rectifies every injustice, and erases every stain.
I know that I am loved, known, and treasured by my Heavenly Father.
I know He has a perfect plan for my life, and that He will guide me every step of the way until I am once again by His side.

And the Lord needs me this way right here, right now,

So here we go.

NO time.....but doing good.

Sorry we have NO time but we´re doing good. 

We saw our investigator again and now she has a fecha! We were able to teach really well by the Spirit and having the member that referred her to us was a huge help! We also saw a huge miracle when she came to church and all the members (many of them already knew her) welcomed her with open arms, showed her around to all the classes, and really took care of her. Not once did we have to worry about where she was, who she was with, or how she was liking it. That is exactly how missionary work should be! We are here to teach the lessons and do the formal preparations, and the members do everything else! She should be getting baptized on August 2nd. 

We were also able to get to know a lot of the members and work a lot with them. I feel like the Lord has really blessed us to be able to have a great relationship build quickly with the members in this whitewash. They already know us and trust us and many are anxious to have us teach their friends and family!

So yeah, have a great week, love ya. I´ll send some pics from our super cool P.day.

Getting to know Vigo--with LOTS of pictures!

So first before I get extremely distracted we´ve had a good week. We definitely had more success than last week as we´ve been figuring out where everything is and getting to know our investigators (also getting a bunch of new investigators!) We met some really cool new people. 

We still haven´t been able to see M again, but we have a cita with her tomorrow so if all goes according to plan we should have her with a baptismal date. 

We met an awesome new lady named M who came to English class and then stayed after with her daughter for FHE and loved it!  She´s from Peru and she´s super nice. She speaks almost perfect English because she lived in England for a few years. So we should be starting to teach her soon, and her almost 8 year-old daughter. 

We had a really cool lesson on the street with an atheist named T.  We talked to him about prayer and invited him to pray to know for sure that God exists. He agreed to do it, so we called him the next day to check up, and he said that he had prayed and that he had asked for something to happen and it did actually happen. But then he said that he wasn´t convinced it came from God...but he´s been thinking more about it. :) It was just a cool opportunity to be able to share our testimonies and invite someone to act and know for himself.

We´re starting to work with some less-active families and getting to know the branch better. There are a lot of really strong members here.  It´s awesome! :)

Okay now the fun stuff...Today we went to a few cool places in our area and then we went to Portugal!! I have a TON of pictures so I´ll be sending them!

view of Spain from Portugal

Cathedral 

Celtic ruins on the way up the mountain

Elders with our Portuguese waitress

lunch in Portugal

A church in Portugal

Portugal across the river

another view of Portugal across the river

Portugal fortress

In a church in Portugal

Portugal in the background

atop the fortress

a street in Portugal

Add caption

watchtower fortress

watchtower peeking

Spain on the right, Portugal on the left, from a mountaintop in A Guarda

a replica of Christopher Colombus' Pinta

Lower fortress

at Playa Samil

Playa America

Looking across the bay from a fortress in Baiona

June 30

Well this week was abnormal. Good but really abnormal. 

Hna. N and I are way too good of friends...we talk ALL the time, WAY too much. We've both served in the islands and in Torrejón, so we know almost all the same members and missionaries, and we talk about them ALL THE TIME. 

This week was a lot of trying to get organized, trying to figure out who the members are, trying to find the busses, trying to find where the chapel is, going through our FOUR area books, etc. Miraculously, we didn't really get lost! We always end up finding Domino's pizza when we don't know where we are. 

On Tuesday we had a really cool experience/miracle where we were trying to get on a bus to go to some pueblo outside of Vigo and while we were waiting, we get a text from a member telling us that she needed us to meet with her friend that afternoon and teach her the plan of salvation. So we came back from the pueblo, found her house, went in, met her friend, and started to teach. Her name is M, and she's a single mother of 3 whose husband died a few years ago. As we taught her, she asked really good questions and really understood it well. We started to explain about the spirit world and she started to ask about her husband. The member who has given us the reference is the family history consultant, and she immediately started to tell her about temple and family history work. M started to cry and said she knew she had to be baptized so that she could give her husband the chance to also be baptized. We were about to give her a baptismal date, but she had to catch the boat to get back to where she lives. (In Vigo sometimes we travel by BOAT to get to parts of our area.) It was amazing and the Spirit was there so strongly!! She should be getting baptized soon. 

Funny story is that one day we were coming into our building at night and since our piso is on the 2nd floor, we usually take the stairs. We started to walk up the stairs and there was some guy laying down on the landing talking a nap! We were talking but then when we saw him we were so surprised that we just went silent, turned around, and took the elevator up. Later we realized it was a construction worker that was talking a nap in his break. Funny stuff.

Also, the branch president's wife calls me "Brave" because I have red curly hair like Merida. And another sister walked into the chapel when we were waiting for a lesson. When I stood up to say hi to her, she looked at me in shock and said "¡Que grandote! ¡Que horror!" which basically means "You're so tall! What a nightmare!" That made me laugh quite a bit.

Port in Vigo

District in Vigo

view of Vigo

We are really excited and we have a lot of good ideas and goals to put into practice here. I will continue sharing experiences and stories as we go meeting more people. The hermanas that we're whitewashing out didn't have a whole lot of investigators, so hopefully our combined new energy can change that!

June 23

So remember how I always try to predict transfers and I never get anywhere close to what's actually going to happen?

Well, it happened again. 

And you will never, ever, ever, ever guess where I am right now.

In this mission, hermanas either go to the Islands or to the North. There are some who never leave Madrid their whole missions. And those who go to both...well, they're few and far between.

So yeah. I'm in VIGO.

With Hna. N, who I've known forever, who was in the Islands the same time as me. She was MTC comps with Hna. F.

I'm in Vigo.

(for those of you who don't know where Vigo is, itś in the north of Spain, right above Portugal. It's built around an ocean inlet and it's ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. Prettier than Canarias, by far. And it smells like the ocean again, and it's not hot. I'm in love.) 

I'm still in shock...and I've known for a few days now.

We're whitewashing, so we have no idea where anything is, again. It's fine though, because we have a senior couple here that can help us figure that out. :)

I'm also SUPER tired because we had to get up at 4:30 in the morning to finish packing and get to Chamartin to catch our 7-hour train to Vigo. It was super fun, we rode up with Elder H, who also served in the Islands, and Hna. S, who'll be serving here close by in Pontevedra. We talked literally the whole 7 hours and also sat their open-mouthed gaping out the window because it's so beautiful here.

So yeah, Hna. Orrego is now comps with Hna. F. It was SO hard to leave Alcorcón, I was crying pretty much all day yesterday and so was everybody else. Everyone's doing great there, I'm excited to see how it keeps progressing.

It was really sad though because I didn't get to say goodbye to M, she's in Murcia for the week, but I talked to her on the phone. :) Probably better that way because I would have BAWLED.  N is still doing awesome, always comes to church, and he's understanding Spanish so much better now. And we found a cool new Cuban family, the mom came to church and it seems like she really enjoyed it. 

So yeah I don't really know if we have investigators or anything, I'm sure we'll figure it out quickly. MY comp is awesome and we've been laughing pretty much all day long. We've also been playing spot-the Africans-and-Latinos-from-our-window. It's a pretty cool game. 

Love you all! Have a great week!

June 16

This week I had another intercambio with Hna. O.  It was a lot better than the other intercambio we had back in March.  And again, we stayed up ALL NIGHT LONG talking about the mission. It was a blast.

This week we had a huge miracle which was that M CAME TO CHURCH!!!!!!! We have been fighting and working to get her to come and she never does because something always comes up or she´s sick or she has to take care of her mom or she has to go count votes for the government and if she doesn´t go she´ll be sent to prison for 3 months to a year... (true story, she showed us the letter and everything) but this week we prayed really hard and had a good solid lesson on the importance of keeping the sabbath day holy and especially we talked about the sacrament. It was so cool to see that as we just read the scriptures (3 Nephi 18) she really could feel the influence of the Spirit.  The thing she´s always saying is that she understands everything (which she does, I´m pretty sure she understands the doctrine better than I do...) but she doesn´t feel it.  And as we were reading, she just started to smile and said "Oh!  I have to be at church, especially for the sacrament, to be able to have the Spirit with me!" and we also talked about planning ahead of time, like doing necessary cleaning/work on Saturday, going to bed early, setting out and preparing clothes to wear, etc. And it worked!  She came! FINALLY!!

With Hna. O we had another lesson with her where we started out talking about the priesthood but then we ended up talking about how to feel the Spirit, because she was still saying that she didn´t feel the truth in her heart. I told her that I know she has felt the Spirit because in the 3+ months I´ve been teaching her, I´ve seen her change a lot, and I´ve seen her bear her burdens with more ánimo and grace. I reminded her of all the times we´ve come to see her and she´s been really happy and full of energy even though her life if difficult and she has a lot of challenges. I told her that THAT is the Spirit, that gives us energy and life and strength even when we are surrounded by problems. And it was amazing again! When we got there, she was a little tired and discouraged, but when we left, she had an extra skip in her step and she was beaming. I love teaching her because I can see the calming and fortifying influence of the Spirit so clearly as I serve her and help her understand the gospel.

I love being a missionary and I love the Spirit, who really is the teacher.

Fun fact for all you prospective missionaries: 

Before you go on a mission, you see the missionaries and you think they know everything. You think they just glide through the streets finding people who are going to get baptized 2 days later. You think they must not ever get tired or nervous.  You think they know exactly what they´re doing all the time.

hahaha LIES.

The more I´m out here, the more I realize that none of us really have any idea what we´re doing. The majority of the people we find don´t even give us their real number, much less agree to meet with us and MUCH less get baptized. We don´t know anywhere close to everything about the gospel, we don´t speak the language, we get lost, we get tired, we get nervous, and we make a ton of mistakes. Basically we just fake our confidence, and the Spirit makes up for the rest. 

The thing I´ve learned is that being a missionary has nothing to do with ME. I only try to strengthen my testimony, love the people, and live worthy to have the Spirit with me. And it´s amazing that it works. And it works really well. Somehow people still love us and listen to us and get baptized, because they can feel that Spirit.  No one can convince me that the success I´ve had on my mission has ANYTHING to do with me. This is the Lord´s work, and he permits us to do it with Him. And the biggest miracle is that our fake confidence becomes real, because we are worthy to represent the most incredible and perfect being who ever lived, even Jesus Christ. I love Him, I serve Him, and I do as He would do. I am so grateful for this privilege I have to represent Him. 

Hermana Lara Schaumann

June 2

Don´t have a lot to say this week. 

Our investigators are doing pretty well, normal bumps and problems, but all okay. M is still awesome and sometimes I really think I´m here in Alcorcón for her. 

I´m really happy, love my companion, love the investigators, and I love the work of God. 

I seriously don´t really have much else to say besides that this is the church of Jesus Christ and it is the true church. I know that without a doubt. 

Have a wonderful week!

Hermana Lara Schaumann

May 19--I Would Walk 500 Miles

A ver.

So first off, my companion is from Chile/Argentina (she was born in Argentina, moved to Spain, and then moved to Chile. Her mom is Argentinian and her dad is Chilean.) her name is Hna. O. She´s super cool and a really good missionary. And she doesn´t speak any English, so I´m teaching her English during language study. :)  It´s a little hard with our Nigerian investigators, but they speak enough Spanish that we can teach more or less in Spanish and then if they don´t understand something I just say it again in English.

We have an AWESOME investigator named N from Pakistan who´s come to church twice and loves everything we teach him. He doesn´t speak Spanish really well, he speaks a little more English but he´s asked us to teach him in Spanish. He´s been reading the Book of Mormon online in his language (Urdu) and he loves it. He is super nice and super cute. So we have a cita with him tonight we should be giving him a baptismal fecha! 

M is also doing pretty well, she still has her two obstacles of not coming to church and smoking. But she LOVES the Book of Mormon and loves the things we teach her. Hopefully we will see her tonight and also get her back on fecha!

R and G--lately R hasn´t been coming to church nor have we seen him this week. So hopefully we can get things going with them. We really want to challenge them to read the Book of Mormon every day as a couple--I really feel like that could save their relationship.  I am so grateful for the opportunity to teach them because I´ve learned a ton about what I do and don´t want to do when I´m married. Both of them are always so focused on the problems of the other one that they can´t or won´t take the time to do the right things themselves. It´s really sad but I know that the gospel is the only thing that could help them. 

This week I´m not really sure what happened, but we ended up walking a TON every day. Usually we don´t walk around all that much but this week things kept failing us at the last minute and we ended up walking to the very ends of Alcorcón and back. My poor companion is exhausted. 

So things are looking good in Alcorcón, we just have to keep finding more people who are going to do their part and get the ones we have moving!

I love you all, have a great week!

Hermana Lara Schaumann

May 12--Pics Catch-Up

NOTE:  Lara had been holding out on us, saving up all her pictures with her "pelirroja" from the last two months so she would surprise us with her hair-color change on her Mother's Day phone call.  So we got a bunch of them all at once!

From Lara:

So to be really quick my comp got transferred to central Madrid and tomorrow I go to pick up my new comp, who´s going to be a greenie!  So I´ll keep you posted about her next week when I find out. I´ll be staying here in Alcorcón with the elders. We have the best district in the whole world.  

And I know you were all demanding pics yesterday, so here:

All the Island Girls/STL with Elder B at the mission home

All the Island Girls! (at the Palace Hotel)

At the Temple for Conference

Me with all my F comps

All the leaders who served in the islands

Almost all of our Gran Canaria District.  We're all mission leaders now.

My favorite picture of my whole mission!

The Temple

w/ Hna F in Toledo in March

In Toledo in March

Another Toledo in March

Another in Toledo in March

In Toledo in March

New Hair! (from March)

With Hna F, at the Temple

May 5--1000 Intercambios

This week Hermana F and I have developed a serious problem where we plan at night and then we start some gospel conversation and keep talking until suddenly we realize in shock that we only have 15 minutes to put on pajamas, brush our teeth, write in our journals, and pray... We just love each other.

I ended up doing 2 exchanges, one on Tuesday, when we had our mission leadership meeting at President´s house, ate lunch there, and said goodbye to the B's, who are in Africa for a 2-week safari before heading home. I will miss them a TON. They are really just like my parents. I almost cried again saying goodbye to them. I also gave Elder B a hug 3 times right in front of President and the APs... ;)

The meeting was awesome, and I really learned a lot about our motives for obedience and working hard. We talked so much about love, both for our fellow missionaries and investigators and for the Savior, and I realized that without that love we don´t really learn or accomplish anything in the mission. When we are obedient because we love, that´s when miracles happen. So many missionaries are obedient because they want recognition or want to impress someone.  But when we obey because we want to serve the Savior the best way possible, we really do live the highest "law" or "rule", even the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that He would rather have us obey that with love for Him than do anything else. 

The other exchange was on Friday with Hna. C. She´s super awesome, from Bolivia, and she knows Hna. M!

Speaking of Hna. M, I GOT TO SEE HER THIS WEEK! She came up to go to the temple and we went out to go get ice cream together on Thursday. She told me, to my great delight, that G, the woman we were teaching in Maplewood, GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!! Gives me hope for all our Muslims. :)

My companion and I have turned into the Primary Presidency this week. We came to the realization that none of our investigators understand anything we are teaching them, so we really need to simplify our teaching style. We made all sorts of visual aids and things to help them see and better understand our doctrines. We´ve been talking a lot this week, with everyone, about who is God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. So many people are confused about that, and until they understand that, they can´t understand the Restoration! 

Have a great week and Happy Mother´s Day to come!  Here Mother´s Day was yesterday. :)

Hermana Lara Schaumann

Soccer is a fanatic obsession of everyone in Spain. Latinos, Spaniards, Africans, all of them. Whenever there´s a game we rarely can find someone to meet with us, and then if we´re in the streets there´s no one, not even any sound until someone scores a goal, at which point everyone starts blowing foghorns, applauding, shouting, cheering, etc. We always know what the score is even without trying to know it. :)

Service is just usually random stuff when the opportunity comes up, such as helping people clean or move. Probably once a week or once every 2 weeks we have a service project to do. 

April 28

Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes! For my birthday I went to 2 bars, since I´m now of legal drinking age. :)

This week was better than last week, even though we had almost no lessons. We´ve developed a slight obsession with the Easter video published by the church (easter.mormon.org) and we showed it to literally every single one of our investigators. 

We haven´t seen M this week, as she´s been busy with a bunch of random things...we´ll see if she gets moving again or if we have to drop her for a little while. R and G have been doing better as well, we had a really good lesson with them yesterday and R is finally starting to recognize that he needs new friends that aren´t such a bad influence on him. He always says "oh yeah I want to do things right" and then never does anything, but yesterday there was a different spirit about him and he even started to cry. So I hope he will make the big changes he has to make to be able to have an eternal family. 

We stopped by J L this week, who´s Dominican and therefore a little flojo, to have a "make it or break it" lesson. We told him quite boldly what we were going to expect him to do and that if he didn´t do his part we wouldn´t visit him. As we were talking, his 9 year-old daughter came in.  To end the lesson, we showed the Jesus video to him and his daughter. That video has such power that after you watch it you just stay silent for a few minutes. We asked them how they felt after it ended, and he said "really good" and his daughter said "better than before I watched it."  She even got a pen and paper to write down the website so she could watch it again. We gave her a Book of Mormon and when we left she was reading it with a marking pencil in her hand. So that was really cool! 

I went on an exchange this week to Leganés, which was really fun (Leganés has the COOLEST piso in the whole mission, it´s 2 stories and you can go out on the roof and the walls are bright orange, purple, green, etc.) We went to visit a less active sister who takes care of an old couple, and the old lady told me about 500 times that I was really guapa and that I needed to find a good novio. It was SO funny. She also started singing some random Spanish folk song to Hna. B and me. 

Another funny thing that happened is that we were going on the train and then on the metro and I saw this woman with a baby and she dropped something and so I helped her pick it up and we started talking and then when we were on the metro I asked her for her number and she started giving it to us right as we reached our stop, so she gave it to us and then we had to go running out the door before it shut. Hna. B ran before me and then the doors started to close so I got a super power/adrenaline rush and made it through right before it closed. If it had closed before I got out I would have had to wait until the next stop, get off and try and figure out how to find Hna. B in an area I don´t know at all. Just goes to show that missionaries literally receive strength and protection from the Lord! 

Keep your prayers coming, we´re in pretty serious finding mode right now because we really need some good new investigators! 

Hermana Lara Schaumann

p.s.  ALSO I don´t know if any of you remember me talking about A in Las Palmas, but HE GOT BAPTIZED YESTERDAY!  Hna. S is going to send me pictures...I´ll forward them when I get them. :) 

April 21

I don´t even know what to say about this week...it was a little rough...but I´ve heard that´s normal for Semana Santa. 

Our classes didn´t go so well seeing as how everyone was out of town or had family in town and couldn´t come...but we got a lot of advertising done so hopefully we can get that going. A lot of people were really interested when we told them about it. Holidays in Spain are just difficult. 

We did have a really cool experience yesterday with working with the members. We stopped by to visit the branch president and his family and we talked about how we could help them with their family missionary work and they gave us a reference of someone his wife had met in a class she´s taking. They told us a lot of stories of how they´ve shared the gospel with either people they know or people they meet in a class or in the store or on a banch and how a lot of those people have gotten baptized!  Unfortunately, the reference they gave us last night doesn´t live in our area, but they committed to having an FHE and inviting someone!  We´re really excited about that. 

Other than that, it was a kind of tricky week. Our investigators who were doing well are now being showered in challenges and problems, and we´re not really finding a lot of new people who are really dedicated and serious about learning the gospel.  We´ve been dropping a lot of people and we´re spending our time trying to work with the members, because none of the people we´re finding in the street are really that interested. 

So hopefully things get better soon! We are still working and praying and hopefully this new focus will give us some real progress. 

Keep your prayers coming, especially for M, who had an extra difficult week, and for R and G.

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Hermana Lara Schaumann